


Into the Heart of the Woods

by DarthSayahSwag



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, F/F, Mentions of past abuse, The Dark One (Once Upon a Time), The Enchanted Forest (Once Upon a Time), magic heavy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 05:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26760085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthSayahSwag/pseuds/DarthSayahSwag
Summary: Henry's never been lost in the Enchanted Forest before. But one day, on his way home, he decides to take a shortcut off the road and runs into a strange creature made of shadow. A witch saves him from the creature and escorts him out of the woods. Once home, Henry tells his adoptive mother about the strange witch.Intrigued, his mother, also a witch, wants to know more about the witch that helped her son. When they are attacked at their home by another shadow creature like the one that attacked Henry in the Enchanted Forest, the witch appears again to save them.Turns out she's cursed to live without a heart and Henry's mother decides she's going to help her break it. Only, not all is as it seems as secrets are revealed and Henry and his mother make a journey into the woods to save the heart of a woman that is fast becoming part of their little family.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 15
Kudos: 152
Collections: Swan Queen Supernova V: Forever Starstruck





	Into the Heart of the Woods

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cesibear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cesibear/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Heart of the Woods [Protostar]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26264359) by [cesibear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cesibear/pseuds/cesibear). 



Henry rarely left the road through the Enchanted Forest. His mother warned him against doing so, as the forest was infamously dangerous. However, today, he was in a hurry to return home. He was gone too long. His trip to deliver potions to the consignment shop his mother sold and traded her potions to once a month, took a day longer than he expected.

His horse, Hero, had thrown a shoe as they neared town. Henry had to get the poor animal reshoed and thus he waited in town while it was done. The consignment shopkeeper was kind enough to allow Henry to sleep in the storeroom behind his shop as he stayed in town overnight. 

Worried about his mother and that she likely worried about him, Henry thought he might try to take a shortcut through the Enchanted forest. He knew his way through the forest well enough by now, surely. The road through the forest and on his way home often turned and wound off in ways that it felt as if it took longer to travel it. 

Cutting through the trees should get him home quicker, shouldn’t it? Henry clutched the enchanted protection charm around his neck. He hoped his mother’s magic would keep him safe. 

Evening came too quickly. Still, Henry was sure he was going in the right direction. Wasn’t he? He could not tell where the sun was amongst the trees. They grew thicker as he rode on. His horse snorted nervously and Henry patted the animal’s neck. 

Anxious, Henry pulled his horse to a stop. He marked a tree with a knife. He should have been home by now. The pouch he kept his water in was markedly low. He should have stopped when he lost sight of the road. 

Henry sighed. His mother was never going to let him hear the end of this when he returned home. She allowed him to make the last 6 trips because at 15 years old, he was determined to show her that he was growing up, and that he could handle more responsibility. 

He urged his horse on as evening began to set in. Surely, his mother would be on the search for him by now. Henry strained his ears, listening, when he heard leaves crunch nearby and a low growl. His horse reared just as he saw a black shadowy creature with glowing eyes. Henry held on, afraid, but attempted to get his horse under control. Just as he thought he was doomed when the black shadow monster launched itself at him and his horse, light flashed and the creature was gone. His horse stood still and calm, and Henry sat upright in his saddle, confused. 

A woman stood before Hero, calming him with a hand to his snout as she made shushing noises. 

Henry stared at the stranger, a blonde woman wearing all white robes. Something about her was familiar to him, though he was entirely sure he never met her in his entire life. 

“Who are you?” He asked the strange woman. 

The woman startled and looked at Henry, revealing blue-green eyes. “You can see me?”

Henry frowned. Was the woman mad? He glanced at the bare toes he could see peeking out from beneath her white robes. Perhaps she was. “Of course I can see you. What was that shadowy thing?” 

The woman didn’t speak for many long moments as she stared up at Henry. “A shadow spirit.”

“I’ve never seen them before.” Henry remarked. Maybe he was the one that was losing his mind. Perhaps he was so lost in the forest that he was seeing things. Was that possible? He clutched the charm around his neck subconsciously. The woman’s eyes followed the movement. She stared at the charm curiously. 

“Most don’t.” She answered. “Most people stick to the roads. The spirits only appear when someone is lost.”

 _Oh_. That must have been why his mother urged him to stick to the roads. Henry kicked himself internally. Taking a shortcut through the forest was foolish of him. 

Henry let go of the charm. The stranger stared at it. He grew uncomfortable the longer she stared. He cleared his throat. 

“Well… it seems I am, indeed, lost.” Henry admitted reluctantly. “I thought to take a shortcut through the trees and only managed to make my trip back home take longer.” 

The stranger’s eyes lingered a bit longer on the charm he wore before she met his doleful gaze. “I can lead you back to the road.”

Henry breathed out, relieved. He was growing more anxious the longer he was lost in the forest. Surprisingly, the strange woman’s presence was comforting to him, despite her oddity. 

“That would be well appreciated. I can give you a bit of coin for your trouble. What can I call you?” Henry asked. 

“Swan." The woman answered. 

Though he thought the name strange, Henry nodded. “I am Henry. Henry Mills.”

“It is good to meet you.” Swan told him. She turned away, looking around before striding off. Henry dismounted his horse. Hero was growing tired by now. He followed Swan as she led the way through the woods. 

Henry contemplated the stranger as they walked. She definitely seemed Swan-like as she almost seemed to glide through the trees. She hardly made a sound as she walked. Her white robes were made from a good material. Perhaps she was a witch like his mother. That white flash that got rid of the shadow creature had to have been magic.

“Was that magic you did to get rid of that shadow spirit?” Henry asked when his curiosity got the better of him. 

Swan glanced at him. “It was.” 

“Are you a witch?” Henry blurted. Swan flinched. 

“Sorry!” Henry hurried. “I know not every magic user likes that term, but my mother is a witch. She makes potions and can light a fire with her hands. She can even throw fireballs.”

“I…” Swan stopped. “I was a witch once. Not so much anymore. The most I can do now is make light and fight off those spirits.” 

“Oh.” Henry frowned. The spirits were another curious thing. Before he could inquire any further, however, the road through the Enchanted Forest came into view. Relief filled Henry at the sight of a bend in the road that he recognized. He was just a few minutes’ ride from his home. 

“Thank you so much, Swan!” Henry stopped himself before he tried to hug the strange woman. He tugged at the charm around his neck again, a nervous habit. Swan’s eyes fell to the charm again, eyes narrowing. 

Henry reached for his purse but then Swan stopped him with a hand to his wrist. Her touch was surprisingly warm and comforting.

“No need. I don’t have much use for it.” Swan told him. 

“Oh. Right.” Henry grinned at her, lopsided. “Well, it was nice to meet you. If I ever get lost again, I hope you show up!” 

Swan shook her head at him. “Please just stick to the roads, kid.”

“No promises!” Henry told her before he mounted his horse and rode away. 

Swan watched him go. She touched her neck, feeling the echo of a charm she once wore a long time ago.

* * *

Regina rushed out to her son as he rode up the trail to their cottage. 

“Henry. What took you so long?” Regina touched Henry’s face, checking him for scrapes and bruises. 

“Hero threw a shoe. I had to stay an extra night in town to get him taken care of by the farrier.” Henry told his mother. 

“Some ‘Hero’.” Regina huffed as the mentioned horse snorted at her. She let go of her son. She had a feeling there was more to it, as Henry shifted, not quite looking her in the eye. “What else happened?”

“I uhh… Imaybetriedtoshortcutthroughtheforest.” Henry mumble-rushed out. 

“Say that again?” Regina frowned at him. 

Henry looked entirely away from her. “I maybe tried to shortcut through the forest.”

“Henry!” Regina reprimanded him. “You know that the forest is dangerous.”

“I know, I know…. I was in a hurry to get home because I thought you might be worried.” Henry finally looked at her.

Regina paused. Then she hugged him, her head tucked under his chin, and admitted, “I began to worry when the sun started going down this evening.” 

She let Henry go. “I’m guessing you were lost?” 

Henry nodded. “For a bit. I uhh… couldn’t find my way. Then…”

Henry frowned. Regina watched him curiously. “Then?” 

“Then… I don’t know what I saw.” Henry hesitated. “I saw some strange creature, a shadow spirit? Then some woman, a witch, appeared and made it go away with light magic.”

“A witch?” 

“Yeah. She was strange though. Called herself Swan. She wore all white robes and walked around barefoot.” Henry told her. “She led me out of the forest and back to the road.”

“Well, if this witch ever appears again, I will have to thank her for making sure my son got back to me.” Regina said.

“Yeah… I don’t think I will be going off the road anytime soon.” Henry mentioned. “Once was enough.”

“You’re here now. Hopefully with a lesson not to go off the road again.” Regina wagged a finger at her son. Henry nodded.

Regina moved to help Henry unload Hero. While in town, Henry picked up a few goods they needed with the money they got from the consignment shopkeeper. This time, they had gotten a little more in payment than usual, as Regina found a better and quicker recipe for one of her potions for cold & flu. It seemed there was an outbreak of the latter at a higher rate this season than usual. Even with the cost of the ferrier’s service, they still had a bit more coin left than they normally would.

“Henry…” Regina gasped at what Henry held out to her. He had been saving up for a while for the black leather coat he held out for his mother. He’d asked the tailor to put the coat away and paid on it for months until today, when he could finally pay it off. It was the other reason he wanted to make the trips into town alone. He would often take a few delivery and messenger jobs before leaving town to earn a little extra to pay on the coat and he didn’t want his mother to figure him out. 

Regina reached out and touched the coat. She loved the color. “Is this for me?”

“I saw that you liked it during the last trip we made into town together.” Henry told her. Regina had stopped while they were getting him fitted for new clothes. He grew a whole foot in a year. He saw the way his mother’s eyes lit up when she saw it. “Black is your color, right?”

It was something his mother jokingly said to his Aunt Zelena during her last visit.

Regina smiled at her son. “It is.” 

She took the jacket from him and examined it for a moment before putting it on. 

“Thank you, Henry. This is a wonderful gift.” She told him. 

“You’re welcome.” Henry felt happy to see how his mother touched his gift in awe. “I love you, mom.”

Regina held back her tears. She threw her arms around Henry in another hug. Henry was getting much too tall. “I’m so glad I found you. You’re a wonderful son.”

Henry cleared away the growing lump in his throat as he pulled away from his mother. They had been through a lot these last years, and he wanted his mother to know that she meant the world to him. He’d found out when he was ten that Regina found him in a basket near the stream a short distance from their cottage. It upset him to learn that Regina wasn’t the mother he was born to, but they worked on it over the years and now to him, there was no one else.

He had no idea what could cause someone to give him up or lose him, but the world they lived in was an often cruel and dangerous one. For all Henry knew, whoever his parents were could have had any number of reasons for why he was orphaned. 

Regina worked with Henry to put away the rest of the goods he bought. Once all of it was done, Henry climbed into his loft and went straight to sleep. He was tired after the day he had.

Regina pulled the jacket tight around her small frame. It was warm and the perfect color. Henry was right. Black was her color. When Regina laid down to sleep she covered herself with the jacket. She fell asleep surrounded by the scent of leather, and wondered about the witch that helped her son out of the forest. She would have to get more details from Henry in the morning. 

* * *

The next morning, Regina asked her son about the witch, Swan, as they went through their daily routine of taking care of their animals and gardening. 

“Well, like I said, she was a bit strange.” Henry told her. “She was barefoot in the forest. But her cloak looked to be well made.”

Henry shrugged. “She fended off the spirits but…”

“But what?” Regina asked as she clipped away a few leaves of mint for potion ingredients. 

“She seemed surprised that I could see her? For some reason. And…” Henry hesitated. “I was thinking this morning, what if she was a spirit too?”

His ears turned a little pink, as if embarrassed at thinking something so ridiculous sounding.

Regina seriously pondered the thought, however. 

“If she was, do you think she was dangerous?” Regina was a witch, and as such, she would not be so quick to dismiss this theory of her son’s. The Enchanted Forest was notoriously dangerous. Home to bandits, witches, and a plethora of strange creatures. Regina got along within the forest on her reputation as a bit of recluse. She often played with fireballs when strangers got too close, and relied on the gossip of her past as a dark witch to keep intruders away. The fact that her sister, Zelena was a particularly mischievous dark witch that liked to play tricks on the magicless helped. 

“No. She seemed benevolent enough. Didn’t take my coin, though she did say she had no need for it…” Henry contemplated that for a minute. “Maybe she doesn’t need coin because she is a spirit.”

“Maybe.” Regina agreed. “Perhaps she is a benevolent forest spirit. The thought of those shadow spirits, however, that is a problem.”

“Yeah…” Henry said. “Should we put up some wards?” 

“If it would make you feel safer to do so, you could.” Regina told him. Henry’s wards would be better and stronger than any she made. His power was a lighter, protective magic, and though Regina converted to light magic years ago when Henry was very small, hers continued to carry the briefest touches of darker magics. 

Henry smiled. He liked when his mother trusted him with magic. He’d only begun to show some talent in the last year, but he felt he was doing fairly well as a student. 

“I’ll do them this evening after I make the preparations.” Henry promised.

“Very well.” Regina agreed. 

Together, they finished up the day’s chores and went about with their own tasks. 

* * *

“What did she look like?” Regina asked Henry later that evening after he completed putting up wards, and they both sat down to dinner. 

Henry thought for a moment. “She was blonde. Pale. Blue-green eyes. Quite pretty. Probably closer to your age, though, at least in looks.”

Regina nodded at the comment, she knew what Henry meant. In her youth, her and Zelena’s mother, a very powerful dark witch, did a spell to slow how they aged. Regina looked to be a mid-30 but was in reality in her late 40s. 

“In her 30s then.” Regina stated.

“Yeah.” 

“I wonder if we could do a spell to find her again.” Regina contemplated. 

“You really want to find her, huh?” Henry remarked.

“Well, I would very much like to thank her.” Regina replied. She picked up her bowl and Henry’s and carried it over to the water basin to be washed. “And perhaps figure out if she is a witch or a spirit.”

She was a little intrigued by the possibility of the mystery. Besides, she sometimes got a little bored around the little cottage. Sure, she spent most of her time making and perfecting her potions and studying whatever new magic tomes Zelena dropped off during her weekly visits, but she wouldn’t mind a little change to her routine. 

Unless that change endangered her son. She hoped this Swan witch/spirit was indeed a benevolent one and that those shadow spirits weren’t something she would have to worry about. 

Henry lit a lamp and sat down with one of Regina’s old magic volumes. Regina eyed the pen he used to mark notes on pages curiously. 

“Is that new?” She asked him, nodding at the pen.

“Yeah, got it for less than usual. There was a deal on inks too.” He nodded at the bottle of ink on the side table beside him. 

Regina nodded. She checked on her latest potion brewing. It had to steep overnight. She picked out a book and sat on the other side of the lamp from Henry. It was a book on spirits, ghosts, and wraiths. Perhaps a little brush up on what she knew about them might help if this Swan turned out to be a spirit of some sort. The two of them sat and read for some time. The only sounds were those of the forest surrounding their home. 

Then, Regina felt a nudge at the back of her skull, one that turned into an internal alarming yell as she felt a magical disturbance nearby. She glanced at Henry who sat up, wide-eyed as he snapped his book closed. His wards must have been disturbed. They both stood as a chill wind swept open a window. In the dying twilight, a shadow could be seen just outside of the line of trees that surrounded their home. 

Regina threw an arm out before Henry could move towards the door. 

“Is that like one of the shadow spirits that you saw?” Regina whispered to him. 

“Yeah, but this one… This one is bigger.” Henry murmured. 

Regina conjured a fireball. The shadow spirit moved back and forth outside of Henry’s ward lines, pacing, perhaps looking for a way in. She stepped towards the door, Henry followed. She knew at this point that she could not stop her son from doing whatever he chose to do so she let him. 

“Stay close.” She said, as she glanced back at him. He nodded. 

They stepped outside. The shadow spirit growled when it caught sight of them. 

Regina eyed the thing and held back a shiver. It was pitch black, but for the eyes which glittered. She could feel powerful dark magic coming off of it in waves. It made her want to gag, even as the dark magic caressed at her, taunting her.

Regina held her fireball higher, growing it as she held it up in her hand towards the creature.

“I’m not sure you’ll want to fight me, creature.” She called at it. The shadow spirit growled and changed shape, growing more beastly. 

She could feel Henry pouring more magic into the wards around them. He wasn’t quite strong yet, but he could put up a solid ward. 

The shadow spirit moved to rush at her, but it was thrown back as it hit Henry’s wards. She and Henry both shuddered. They felt the dark magic clash with Henry’s purer light magic. 

The shadow spirit roared as it got up, sending the hairs on the back of Regina’s neck to standing. Then, light pierced through the middle of the beastly shadow spirit. The spirit cried out, and as the light cut through it, it wavered and dissipated into the night. Standing, a bright beacon of light against the dark backdrop of the Enchanted Forest was the woman that helped Henry the day before. 

* * *

“Name yourself, stranger!” Regina called to the woman, despite already knowing of her. 

The woman visibly startled at Regina’s words. Regina frowned. It was as Henry said, she seemed surprised at being seen. 

“I am Swan. I helped your son last night.” She answered, nodding in the direction of Henry.

Regina continued to hold up the fireball as she approached the edge of the ward where Swan stood. Swan eyed the fire. Regina didn’t really need it to get a better look at Swan, but she held it up anyways as she examined her. 

“What are you-?” Swan started but then Regina shushed her. 

Swan was indeed pale, blonde-haired, and blue-eyed. Her robes were very white, as Henry said, well made, and surprisingly clean. Light magic came off of her in waves but overwhelmingly so. Rather than being warm, as light magic usually was, hers was like standing in a dry field under the hot sun on a cloudless day. Regina glanced down and saw that Swan was indeed barefoot. 

“Henry, can you allow Swan through your wards?” Regina asked him. She wanted to test something.

There was a shiver in the air between Regina and Swan. Regina held out a hand. Swan eyed it, and cautiously took it. A shiver passed through Regina’s arm as Swan took her hand. She could feel something much more powerful underlying Swan with the touch that didn’t belong to her. 

Swan stepped past the ward and the ward shattered. 

“What-?” Henry hurried to them. “How did that happen?” 

Regina let go of Swan, suspicions confirmed. “It seems that Swan is indeed a witch, but a cursed one, at that.” 

Henry moved to put his wards back up but Regina stopped him. 

“It would be useless.” 

Swan stepped back at Regina’s words. “I’m sorry. I should probably go.” 

Regina stopped her with a hand to her shoulder. “You helped my son, and you stopped that shadow spirit. I don’t think you mean us any harm.”

Swan met Regina’s gaze. “Thank you, but-,”

She glanced oddly at Henry behind Regina. “I only came to make sure the boy made it home safely. Then I saw the shadow spirit attacking and well,”

She gestured and shrugged. “It would probably be best if I stayed away and-, your son?” She continued at Regina’s nod. “Puts those wards back up.”

Regina regarded Swan curiously. Then she glanced back at Henry and the area around the cottage, thinking. “Perhaps we could move the wards closer to the cottage? We have a storage shed in the back that you could sleep in?”

“I wouldn’t want to be a bother.” Swan told her. She eyed Regina’s cottage warily.

“You wouldn’t be. It’s late and I would really like to help you figure out this curse of yours.” Regina offered. Whatever it was, it was powerful enough to shatter a ward instantly. 

“I-,” Swan hesitated. She glanced back at Henry again. Regina narrowed her eyes at her. She was a little too interested in Henry but Regina hoped if Swan stayed nearby then perhaps she could figure that and her curse out. 

“Okay. I’ll stay.” Swan agreed. 

“Good. Henry.” Regina told him to make preparations. They would need to move some things around the shed and lay out blankets for Swan to use. Swan took the blankets when Regina handed them to her and stared at them, then stared at Regina, expression unreadable. 

“What?” Regina asked when Swan stood still for too long. 

“Nothing. Thank you. I have not met such kindness in… years.” Swan told her. 

Regina pretended not to find the comment odd. “You helped my son. I would like to help you in return.” 

She meant it. Though not entirely for altruistic reasons. Regina was curious about this curse that surrounded Swan. She’d dealt with her fair share of them. On a few, rare occasions some cursed person or other would find her cottage, having been through town and hearing from the locals that there was a witch living outside of town that could help them. Not all were easily helped, but most left Regina curse-free or at least with the knowledge of how to lift their curses. There were plenty of witches out there, many of whom deployed curses at the slightest of offenses. Regina was once one of them. 

Once Swan was settled, Regina worked with Henry to put up new wards around their cottage, much closer to its walls this time. She trusted Henry’s abilities, but after seeing a shadow spirit with her own eyes, she wanted to ensure that the wards had additional strength and were tightly sealed. 

The shadow spirits were another problem she wanted to figure out. She understood that the Enchanted Forest was a dangerous place. It was part of the reason she chose to make a life for herself in her little cottage, she was much less likely to encounter people out in such a place. The dangers she was accustomed to included wild animals and the occasional magical creature looking for a meatier meal. The appearance of these shadow spirits was new and could potentially harm her and her son. Regina would get more information about them from Swan. 

Settling in for the night, Regina slept restlessly as she puzzled over Swan and the shadow spirits. 

* * *

The next morning, Regina brought breakfast out to the shed only to find it empty. The blankets they gave their guest were neatly folded and placed on top of a barrel. Regina hurried outside, throwing her hand out with a bit of magic to seek out Swan’s magic. She followed the blazing glow that was the other witch until she found her at the stream near the place she found Henry at all those years ago. Swan watched the stream as the cold water flowed over her feet, not noticing, or perhaps not caring that the bottom of her robe was in the water as well. 

“I brought breakfast.” Regina announced. Swan startled and whirled, then calmed when she spotted Regina. She stepped out of the stream and approached Regina. Regina held up a bowl of fruits and cheese with a slice of bread for Swan to take. 

“Thank you.” Swan took the bowl. Regina watched her, curious, as Swan carefully eyed the fruit then took a bite, as if testing it. She smiled at nothing in particular, then began to scarf down every bit in the bowl, as if she hadn’t eaten in years. 

“Voracious eater.” Regina commented. 

“Sorry, I’m just… I haven’t had something so good in ages.” Swan told her. 

“You’ll have to elaborate one that some time.” Regina replied. The strange witch grew more and more intriguing as Regina interacted with her. 

“Maybe.” Swan looked off into some far away thought. Regina wondered what could be on her mind. 

“I have Henry preparing some potions and a tea we'll need to figure your curse out. It’s going to be a few hours for them to brew but, in the meantime, we can do a few spells.” Regina explained to Swan as she turned away, walking back to the cottage. She could hear Swan following, and not for the first time, she wondered if it hurt her feet to walk through the forest bare like that. 

When they reached the cottage, Regina took Swan’s bowl and set it aside. She checked on Henry and his progress brewing the potions they would need. Satisfied with his work, she grabbed her materials, a mixture of herbs, crystals, and chalk and carried them outside. 

Swan took some of the materials from her and helped Regina arrange them on the ground near a slab of natural stone embedded into the ground near her cottage. It was part of the reason she’d chosen this place to live in. The natural stone was perfect for spells such as the one she was going to do with Swan in diagnosing her curse, and it would act as a natural barrier to keep any part of it from bleeding. It was also much easier for her to cleanse the stone of any magic once they were finished.

Regina directed Swan to stand in the middle of the stone slab. Then she got to work drawing out a circle with the chalk then tracing it and the symbols around it with herbs. Swan looked down on her blank-faced as Regina set crystals around the edge. Swan’s stillness was curious to Regina. Normally, people tapped their feet, clenched their fists, and almost seemed to vibrate the entire time Regina was setting this part of her diagnosing of their curses up. Swan stood stock still, merely watching Regina go about her work. 

It unnerved Regina to say the least. Breaking the silence, she told the other witch, “It’s good that you are already barefoot. I don’t have to ask you to take off your shoes for this.”

“Do you normally do that?” Swan asked. 

“It makes it easier for the spell to ground itself to you and the stone.” Regina stated. “Remind me, when we’re done, to bring you some boots.”

“That really wouldn’t be necessary.” Swan objected. “The dirt doesn’t bother me.”

“Surely, they get cold? Or hurt?” Regina asked, she looked up at Swan, searching her expression. No emotion. 

Swan shook her head. “My magic keeps me warm, and…”

Swan sighed, she looked away, bitterness flitted over her features before disappearing, returning to that vacant expression again. “It also heals me if I get hurt at all.”

“Oh.” Regina didn’t really know what else to say. Instead, she furrowed her brow, and concentrated on filling the circle with her magic. It and the symbols surrounding Swan glowed. 

Regina stepped back and began to chant in a long forgotten language. Swan stood perfectly still as a wall of light surrounded her. Symbols began to appear in the air, Regina narrowed her eyes, attempting to decipher them only for them to disappear before she could. And then, like the ward Henry made the night before, the spell shattered. 

Regina sighed. Swan’s curse was much stronger than they thought. 

* * *

Regina plopped a spare set of boots beside Swan as she sat near a fire she made after Regina cleansed the stone and stomped off. 

The fire was mostly to have something to do. Swan was honest with Regina when she said her magic kept her warm. Sometimes it burned through her veins. She couldn’t do any spellwork, and the magic often built up so much that she wondered if her magic would burn her from the inside out. But then, a shadow spirit would appear and she would get rid of it with her magic and the use of it would be just enough to stabilize it again. 

Sometimes, Swan wondered if the spirits appeared solely for the purpose of allowing her to bleed off some of her power, but then she realized that couldn’t be the case as they only appeared whenever she found some poor lost soul in the forest or when she got too close to-, Swan did not finish the thought.

Swan eyed the boots. They were a bit worn, but looked to be her size. 

“I told you-,” Swan began, but then she stopped when she caught Regina’s expression. The woman probably thought this was at least something she could fix, if nothing else. Relenting, Swan took the boots and unlaced them, preparing to pull them on. 

“Thank you.” She finished instead. 

Regina nodded. She watched the fire, thinking. 

“Henry should complete the potions and tea soon. The tea is a bit more of a divination spell, but it might give some clues.” Regina informed her companion.

Swan didn’t object. She knew the spells would not work, but she was willing to let Regina try. Something about Regina’s determination to figure her curse out stirred something inside of her. She couldn’t quite figure out what it was, not when it felt like an echo of something long forgotten. 

“Can you tell me more about that shadow spirit that attacked us?” Regina asked after they both sat in silence for a while. 

“What is it that you want to know?” Swan questioned in return.

“Why did it attack? What is it, exactly? Should I… should I be worried for Henry?” Regina fired off the plague of questions that bothered her though a restless night of sleep.

Swan pondered the questions. “Which do you want me to answer first?”

“Should I be worried about my son?” Regina asked softly. It was the most worrisome of the questions that kept her awake throughout the night. 

Swan looked out at the forest surrounding the little cottage. She had her suspicions as to why the shadow spirit appeared here. Normally, the spirits did not follow any of the people she led out of the forest. Some part of her hoped it wasn’t true, nevertheless. How much should she tell the witch? Swan wasn’t sure if she trusted her entirely yet, though Regina was doing a pretty great job of trying to help her. 

“I’m not sure.” Swan simply answered. “The spirits don’t normally follow people once I get them back to the road, but then, none of them lived in the forest.”

Regina huffed. “I was hoping for a better answer.”

“I can’t give a better one, sorry.” Swan told her matter-of-factly. She wasn’t going to tell Regina exactly why until she had better confirmation of what she suspected. 

“As for the shadow spirits, I think they might be part of my curse?” Swan confessed. Regina turned to look at her, one brow raised. Swan shrugged. “I can’t be sure. They show up whenever people are lost in the forest, I can feel when they appear and where they’re at, then I chase them off.”

Swan thought about it. “You wouldn’t believe how many people get lost in the forest throughout the week.”

“Really?” Regina was curious about that. “Wouldn’t most know to stay on the road?”

“Most do. But the Enchanted Forest sits in an area where five different kingdoms meet. There’s a lot of through traffic, from common folk to merchants to royals to witches and apparently sons of witches.” Swan informed her. Regina gave her a crooked smile at the mention of Henry. 

“For every 25 or so people traveling through this forest, there're at least 2 or 3 that wander off the road or think to try taking a shortcut.” Swan explained. 

“So they keep you busy.” Regina replied, voice wry. 

Swan nodded. 

That caused Regina to think of another question. “How far can you sense these shadow spirits?”

Something flickered across Swan’s features, sorrow? maybe. “Throughout the entire forest.” 

“Oh.” It must be quite a weight to sense something like that. 

Regina dreaded the answer but she asked it anyway, “What happens if you don’t make it to someone fast enough?” 

Swan stared into the trees. She didn’t speak for some time, which began to worry Regina that perhaps she shouldn’t have pried. If only Regina knew how Swan couldn’t feel the words as she said, “They die.”

Regina reached out a comforting hand and squeezed Swan’s shoulder. 

“I’m sorry.” She said, when Swan looked over at her. 

Swan didn’t respond, remaining emotionless as she stared off into the forest again. 

“Mom!” Henry called from the cottage door, startling both women out of their thoughts. “The potions are ready!” 

Regina stood, then offered her hand for Swan to take. Swan looked at it, then at Regina’s open expression. Perhaps she could trust her. Swan took her hand and held on for just a touch longer after Regina pulled her to her feet. There was a heat there, a spark in their touch that Swan recognized despite not having felt something like that in more than a decade. 

“Might as well come in and sit a while for this next part.” Regina told her. 

* * *

Swan sat in a chair at a small, two-person table within the little cottage. Henry set down a bowl and a bucket on the table in front of her. Swan tried her best to smile at him, though she knew it probably came off as fake. Henry smiled encouragingly at her, regardless. Her chest ached and then just like that, the feeling was gone. 

“What’s the bowl for?” Swan was familiar with many magics, though even when she was an apprenticed witch she didn’t learn much in the way of potions. 

“It’ll help with the tea when we get to that part.” Regina stirred something in a kettle. 

“Okay.” Swan nodded. “The bucket?”

“That’s just in case. For the potions.” Henry informed her, throwing his mother a look. Regina shrugged.

“I didn’t want to worry her.”

“Worry me?” Swan looked at Henry to answer. 

“Sometimes people throw them up.” Henry told her. 

“Oh.” Swan glanced over at Regina who left the kettle to come sit across from her. She shrugged. “I’m not worried.”

She was pretty sure she heard Regina mutter “If you could worry at all.”

Swan ignored her, though she felt a pinch knowing that Regina probably recognized her lack of affect. Henry set 3 cups in front of her. Two of them bubbled. Perhaps she should worry. Swan knew she would if she could. 

“Here goes, I guess.” Swan declared, then she picked up a cup and chugged it down in one go. 

At first, nothing happened. Then Swan felt the potion roil and rumble in her stomach. She hurried to grab the bucket, leaning over the side of her chair with it as she chucked the whole of the potion she drank into it. 

Henry and Regina exchanged looks. “There goes the first.”

Swan wiped her mouth with the rag Henry offered her. She eyed the other two cups. 

“Would it really matter if I took these?” Swan asked. 

“Each potion is stronger than the last. They’ll at least help us gauge the power of your curse, if nothing else.” Regina informed her. 

“Okay.” Swan grabbed the second cup. It was probably a good thing Regina gave her such a light breakfast. Swan briefly wondered if there would be more food after all of this. Surely, she could get more food? 

Swan downed the bubbling concoction. She let out a loud burp as it went down. 

“Sorry.” She told her audience. Regina merely watched her, amused.

“It does that a lot.” Henry told her. 

“Good to know I’m not the only one.” 

Swan grabbed the bucket and leaned over just in time to heave the potion into the bucket. She noted the enchanted sigils carved into the wood of the bucket. Ah, good, that would probably keep any lingering magical effects from setting into the mixture of potions. 

“Two.” Henry and Regina looked almost identical as they exchanged another look.

“What does that mean?” Swan looked back and forth between them. 

“Whatever your curse is, it’s extremely powerful.” Henry told her. Regina nodded, confirming what he said. 

Swan picked up the last potion. It looked thicker than the other two, though it bubbled less than the last one. “I guess I’ll go ahead and chuck this one too.”

Swan drank it down. For a long while nothing happened. Regina and Henry watched her intently. 

“Nothing seems to be happening.” Swan told them. Then she felt it, the searing across her skin. Swan gritted her teeth as her skin glowed with her own magic, then stopped. 

Regina stood and hurried to her side as Henry watched them worried. “I didn’t mess up the potion, did I?”

“No. No, Henry, you did everything correct.” Regina reassured him as she wrapped fingers around Swan’s wrists, checking her pale skin. Swan noted that her skin tingled wherever Regina touched, but that was all. 

Regina’s brows knit with concern. “Was that your magic?” 

Swan nodded. She could still feel the echo of the burn. 

Regina exhaled, frustrated. “It would seem that your own magic was weaved into this curse.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean, that whoever cursed you, tied your own magic into it. That way, your own magic would protect the curse against prodding from any outside forces trying to learn anything about it.” Regina explained. She rubbed the inside of Swan’s wrists with her thumbs comfortingly as she spoke. 

“Right.” Swan frowned. Sparks danced across her skin where Regina touched and she wasn’t sure if it was an aftereffect of what just happened or something else. 

Regina let her go and Swan realized she wanted her touch back immediately. 

“You’re okay?” Henry asked her. Swan knew it was a question meant to reassure himself and she did not mind one bit.

Swan smiled lopsided at him. “I’m fine.”

“Okay.” Henry sounded so small in that moment. He was really worried he’d messed up. Swan took his hand. It was warm. 

“I’m okay.” She reassured him again. 

Regina returned with another cup. Swan glanced at the contents. A steaming cup of tea.

“This will be our last round of diagnosing your curse.” Regina told her. “Drink up. I’ll take a look at the leaves and maybe we could get just a little something more about your curse.”

Swan sighed. “I doubt it’ll work, but thank you for trying.”

She thought she meant it. 

Regina gave her a reassuring smile, though it was strained. She probably doubted it too. 

“We’ll clean up after, do some chores and get started on preparing dinner.”

Swan perked up at that. She hadn’t had a delicious meal in over a decade. She was also interested in getting to know more about Henry and Regina and their life around the little cottage.

She sipped down the steaming liquid. The tea was a significant improvement over the potions. It also settled her stomach which felt heavy after that last potion. When she finished she handed the cup off to Regina who turned it over into the bowl. 

Regina leaned over the bowl with a frown. Henry attempted to get a look only for Regina to hold him off. Her ears colored briefly. 

“What does it say?” Henry asked before Swan could. 

“Umm. Nothing.” Regina glanced at Swan nervously. Swan noted the faintest of blushes to her cheeks. “It’s not…”

She shook her head and cleared her throat. “I don’t understand.”

“Oh.” Henry said. “That’s never happened before, has it?”

“No it hasn’t.” Regina confirmed all too quickly. Swan realized she was lying. Whatever she saw, Regina wasn’t willing to share. 

Regina quickly dumped the contents of the bowl into the bucket with the discarded potions. 

“Let’s clean up and get started on food.” Regina glanced over at Swan, a strange look in her eyes. “I’m sure our guest will be needing something to put in her stomach after what we just put her through.”

“I would very much like that.” If there was something that could excite Swan, it was the prospect of a meal. She would try to get what the tea leaves said out of Regina later.

* * *

Regina was glad she decided on stew for dinner as Swan had multiple helpings. She suspected that the woman hadn’t had a good meal in some time. They ate companionably.

Swan asked questions of Henry, with a few sporadic questions for Regina. She confirmed Regina’s suspicions that she was more interested in Henry than she initially showed as they went through the rest of the day gardening, caring for the few animals they had, and taking care of things around the cottage. Swan stuck to Henry for much of the day, claiming that she wanted to learn from the apprentice of the household so as not to bother the ‘master’. Regina almost believed the joking manner with which Swan said it, but the mirth didn’t reach her eyes.

Regina would wait to call her on it. She didn’t want to scare Swan off knowing that she carried a powerful curse. Though, if Regina’s suspicions were correct, she doubted Swan could easily be scared off. 

“So you’re adopted?” Swan seemed overly interested in the topic.

Alarmed, Regina glanced at Henry. He shrugged. 

“My mom found me by the stream behind the cottage. It doesn’t bother me any.” Henry told her. He smiled, glancing at Regina, who smiled back just as warmly. “She’s been an amazing mother.”

A lump formed in Regina’s throat. She swallowed and tugged the leather jacket she wore against the cooling night tighter around her shoulders. “You’re an amazing son.”

Henry positively beamed at her, widening her smile. 

Swan frowned and rubbed a hand over her chest. 

“It’s wonderful that you two are such a great family.” Swan spoke, her words breathy.

“What about you?” Henry asked, curious. “Do you have a family out there?”

Swan looked away from him. Regina caught something, longing? in her gaze. Regina watched Swan curiously as she rubbed her hand over her chest where her heart was again. 

“I did once. I don’t anymore.” Swan told him, her tone empty. 

“Oh.” Henry looked down at his empty bowl. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Swan reassured him. “I lost them a long time ago.”

An awkward tension fell over the room. Henry glanced to his mom before staring at Swan as if he had no idea what to do. Regina decided to break things up before things got more awkward. She clapped her hands. “We should clean up and put those wards back up, Henry.” 

Henry hopped up, relieved. He grabbed their bowls and moved to the wash basin and began the process of cleaning up. 

“Swan, I’ll walk you back to the shed, if you don’t mind?” Regina wanted to take the chance to speak to her. 

“Oh uhh, yeah, sure.” Swan nodded, pulling her attention away from Henry. She followed Regina outside, but not before telling Henry a polite “Good night.” which he replied to with the same.

Regina waited until they rounded the back of the cottage. She rounded on Swan. 

“What is your interest in my son?” She demanded. 

Swan stepped back. “I don’t-,”

Regina held up her hand. Swan closed her mouth. 

“You helped Henry. A shadow spirit followed him home. Your curse is tied to those spirits. You seem awfully interested in him, so I have to question what you’re doing here.” Reging told her. 

Swan held up her chin. 

“What did those tea leaves really say?” She fired back, on the defensive. 

Regina frowned but she held Swan’s gaze just as defiantly. “Don’t turn this on me! I asked first, and I need to know if you are a danger to my son.”

Swan sighed. She looked off to the side. 

“Okay, but you have to tell me about the tea leaves.”

“I don’t-,” Regina began but then it was Swan’s turn to cut her off, with a hand held up to stop her from continuing. 

“Your ears and face flushed after you read the leaves. You wouldn’t look at your son, and you were awfully quick to discard the leaves before anyone else could look at them.” Swan ticked off. “I want to know what they said.”

“Fine.” Regina acquiesced. “But you first.”

“Okay.” Swan sighed. She looked away from Regina, thinking about what she should share. She decided to keep things partially true. “I had a son once. I lost him a long time ago. He would have been Henry’s age.”

Regina crossed her arms as she felt guilt wash over her. “I’m sorry.” 

Regina couldn’t imagine losing Henry. He was her whole world. She couldn’t imagine what Swan went through. Maybe that was why the other witch hardly showed any emotion. Perhaps it was too hard and not feeling was easier than feeling for her. 

Swan dipped her shoulder. “It was many years ago, and I have been wandering the forest since.” 

That was curious to Regina. Perhaps Swan’s curse had something to do with losing her son? 

Swan interrupted her before she could think too much about it. “I believe we had a deal?”

Regina shifted, her hand falling to her stomach nervously. “They…”

Regina swallowed. “There were symbols of the creation of love, partnership, as well as a symbol of oncoming danger.”

What Regina left out was that there were also symbols that indicated that the divination was for both the diviner and divined. It was strange, especially when she was sure she felt an inexplicable pull towards the other witch. The symbols were also another reason Regina was suspicious of Swan. She wasn’t sure if she would be the source of the oncoming danger. It made it hard to trust her and Regina questioned whether the divination was wrong or if she messed up. How could she build a partnership with someone she didn’t trust?

“Was that all it said?” Swan pressed. She could tell Regina was holding something back.

“That was all it said.” Regina told her. Her divinations were usually spot on, but surely she was prone to mistakes at some point?

Swan decided not to call her out on it. “Well, now that we’ve cleared the air, perhaps it’s best that we say our good nights?”

“Right.” Regina agreed. “Good night, Swan. Is there anything else you need to be more comfortable? Perhaps more blankets?” 

“No, I’m good.” Swan assured her. “My magic keeps me warm enough and I’m used to sleeping on hard ground.”

Regina wasn’t sure why that bothered her. 

“Good night, then.” Regina said softly.

“Good night.” Swan replied. 

Regina turned to walk away only for her shoe to catch on a rock. Swan moved quickly, catching Regina in her arms. 

Swan could see Regina’s lip scar up close now. She’d noticed it before, but hadn’t really thought of how it accented Regina’s face. She could feel her blood rushing and the magic under her skin rushed to the surface. 

Regina bit her lip. Her face flushed as she noticed that Swan was looking at her rather intensely. It was the most emotion she’d seen the woman show. 

Regina knew she was attractive. Swan was probably just noticing what other people did. 

“Sorry.” Regina straightened herself, smoothing out her outfit as she steadied herself. 

Swan swallowed. “No it’s… It’s fine.”

“Right.” Regina smiled awkwardly. “Goodnight, Miss Swan.”

Swan’s mouth twitched. “Goodnight, Regina.”

This time, when Regina turned away, she made sure to watch her feet. She could sense Swan watching her as she walked back to the cottage. 

* * *

The next day Zelena arrived for her usual visit. She brought a slew of new books, along with rarer potion ingredients that Regina couldn’t easily find nearby in the forest. 

“Who is this?” Zelena asked, staring at Swan as the blond assisted Henry with the cottage garden. 

“She’s….” Regina hesitated, perplexed. How did she explain Swan to Zelena?

“Whoever she is, I can feel quite the curse coming off of her.” Zelena observed. “Very powerful. Powerful enough that-,”

Zelena stopped speaking and frowned.

“Powerful enough that what?” Regina questioned her sister.

“Have you tested her curse out yet?” Zelena asked instead of answering.

“We did a few yesterday. Potions, tea, magic circle,” Regina listed off, recapping the curse testing rituals they tried the day before. “We didn’t get anything out of them beyond muddled tests. All we learned is that Swan’s own magic is tied to the curse. Whoever cast it made sure the curse would cover their tracks.”

Zelena hummed. “Yes, the magic coming off of her… Powerful witch. You’ll need something stronger, then. Perhaps something that requires two or more magic users?”

Regina smiled slightly. She knew she could depend on Zelena. “I take it you have something in mind?”

* * *

Later that evening, Swan stood in the middle of a circle Zelena drew around her on the stone slab. It was a much more powerful revelation spell than what was in Regina’s usual arsenal. Regina handed Swan an enchanted knife then took her place inside of another, warded circle on the edge of the one Swan stood in the middle of. Zelena and Henry moved to similar circles. Lines the three of them forming a triangle around Swan and her circle. 

“You ready?” Zelena called to her sister. 

Regina nodded and glanced at Henry. He looked nervous. Regina gave him an encouraging nod and smile, silently mouthing to him that he could do this. He straightened, hands held out as he smiled back at her, much more confident. 

“Ready.” The both of them called back to Zelena.

“Now then!” Zelena commanded. 

At once, Swan sliced her palm as Zelena, Henry, and Regina began to chant. Swan’s blood, rather than dripping to the ground, hovered in the air. Droplets swirled away from the cut on her palm and began forming sigils and words in an ancient tongue only known to the most studied of magic users. Regina concentrated on chanting as well as attempting to read the sigils she could see. She almost faltered as she recognized one of them. A sinking feeling dropped through her gut. 

Swan’s curse wasn’t just powerful. It was one enacted by one of the most powerful magic users in the realm.

The Dark One. Rumplestiltskin. 

* * *

It was a roar that broke the rest of Regina’s concentration on the spell. A shadow spirit, this one bigger than the last, broke through the trees of the surrounding forest, rushing towards the group of magic users. 

Regina launched herself towards Henry, pushing him out of the way as the shadow _beast_ thundered towards him. She and Henry both tumbled to the ground. 

Zelena threw up a ward only for the shadow beast to swallow up her magic. The monster grew in size as it absorbed her magic. 

“No dark magic!” Regina called to her sister. “Can’t you feel it? It’s made of the darkest of magics. Your spells will only make it stronger.”

“What the hell else am I going to use?” Zelena shouted back as the shadow beast bore down on her.

Light flashed all around them, blinding Regina. She blinked, eyes teary as the outline of Swan came into view. Swan lifted her hands, filled with tiny suns of light, against the shadow beast. 

Regina shielded her eyes with a hand across her brow. She scrambled to get up, grabbing Henry and pulling him to his feet. 

“Come, we need to get into the cottage.” Regina pulled Henry away from the battle and towards the cottage and hopefully behind Henry’s wards. Zelena hurried after them. 

Regina pushed Henry through the wards and turned back to Zelena to make sure she was okay. Her eyes widened as she saw the shadow beast bearing down on Zelena, having knocked over Swan on the stone slab. Regina grabbed her sister and pushed her through the ward throwing her hands up with as much light magic as she could muster against the shadow beast. Her light was not nearly as powerful as Swan’s but the monster paused, nonetheless. 

Regina knew she could not hold up a shield of light for long. She glanced back at the border of the ward. 

“Don’t!” Zelena must have caught her look. She understood what Regina was going to do.

“I have to, the ward needs more strength!” Regina grit her teeth as the shadow beast moved closer. She turned, closing her eyes, and throwing a hand out to the ward, ready to fill it with as much light magic as she had left, leaving herself vulnerable to the shadow monster. 

Something smashed into Regina’s middle, pushing her away from both beast and ward. Light, so bright that Regina was blinded through her eyelids, surrounded her. Her ears rang as a terrible screech filled the air. 

Regina let out a low “oof!” as her back hit the ground. 

She blinked, trying to open her eyes. Everything was light. It was all she could see. She felt uncomfortable warmth wrapped around her middle. 

Regina attempted to move, still blinded. Weight kept her pressed into the ground. Her ears continued to ring as she she flailed her arms, attempting to get her bearings. She reached for the weight that pinned her to the ground. 

Her hands landed in hair and a soft, velvety surface. 

“Swan.” Regina choked. Why was her throat so dry?

The weight lifted from her chest. Regina continued to blink. Outlines were beginning to appear. Regina shook her head. A hand landed on her cheek. Regina moved to push it away but felt weak. She frowned as Swan came into view above her. Her pale skin glowed, her hair surrounded her face like-, 

“Sun’s rays.” Regina laughed. She had no idea why she was laughing. 

Swan looked concerned. She held Regina’s face, mouth moving. 

“-her head.” 

Zelena and Henry appeared in Regina’s view as sound returned. 

Henry leaned down. Cool fingers probed the back of Regina’s head. She winced as pain shot across her scalp. 

“She has a bump. She probably hit her head on the ground.” Henry told Swan. 

Regina grumbled. She pushed Swan, sitting up. “I’m fine.”

She felt a bit nauseous. Maybe she wasn’t fine. Regina closed her eyes. She leaned forward, head falling into something firm but soft. It felt good to lean against something.

“Mom, you hit your head pretty hard.” Henry told her. “I think you have a concussion.” 

“Probably do.” Regina muttered. Whatever she was leaning against felt good. If not a little bit too warm. A hand stroked her back. Regina sighed, leaning into the source of her comfort more. 

“Do you think I should probably carry her in?” 

Regina’s eyes fluttered open. She shot back, landing against Henry and Zelena seated behind her. Swan still straddled her legs. Regina colored. She’d been leaning against Swan’s chest. 

“Sorry.” Swan muttered as she removed herself from Regina. Regina almost reached out, missing the comfort of her warmth.

“Do you think you can stand, mom?” Henry asked, concerned. 

Regina felt around her skull with her fingertips. She hissed when her fingers grazed the bump on her head. She must have hit it pretty hard against the rough ground. She still felt nauseous. 

“Not sure.” Regina admitted. She tried to stand anyways, nearly collapsing as the world spun. Swan caught her before she could fall. 

Regina gazed up into blue-green eyes. Swan no longer glowed, but with the sun high overhead, her hair still looked like sun’s rays. 

“Umm.” Regina shook her head. “Can you help me?” 

Regina gasped as Swan placed one arm behind her back and crouched to place the other behind her legs. Pushing as she turned and lifted Regina into her arms. Regina grabbed on to Swan’s shoulders, afraid of falling. Though once Swan began to walk, Regina noted the steadiness of her arms and relaxed. She leaned against Swan’s shoulder. 

She didn’t have it in herself to care too much about how she looked right now. Her head throbbed and she felt tired and nauseous. Henry let down his wards around the cottage and Swan stepped over the threshold. She followed Henry through the cottage, carrying Regina into her bedroom. Gently, she laid her down. 

“We have a tea for head injuries.” Henry informed Swan. “I’ll go get it started.”

Swan moved to follow but then Henry told her, “She’s going to need company. Someone has to keep an eye on her.”

Swan turned back and sat beside the bed. 

“Try to keep her awake.” Henry ordered. 

Regina leaned back on her pillows with a sigh, closing her eyes.

“Hey, no sleeping.” Swan interrupted Regina before she could drift off.

“I wasn’t.” Regina lied, opening her eyes. “Just resting my eyelids.”

The corner of Swan’s lip curled briefly. 

“I’m sure you were.” Swan replied. She leaned over on Regina’s bedding. “Now, what should we talk about to keep you awake?”

Regina wasn’t sure. She didn’t have much energy to talk.

“I know!” Swan nodded. “I’ll tell you about some of the people I escorted out of the forest. You can tell me about some of the people you’ve helped with curses.”

Regina didn’t have the heart to tell Swan she was too tired. “Okay. But you go first.”

Regina sat back and listened as Swan dived into a tale of a merchant and his whole caravan of people with goods to deliver getting lost in the forest. She watched the witch as she spoke, and she wondered what could possibly drive someone to curse her?

* * *

“Will you be alright without me?” Zelena asked Regina. She sat beside Regina on her bed, offering her a bowl of food and a spoon. 

Regina sat up and carefully ate the mix of oats, nuts and fruit. She reached back and touched the back of her head. It didn’t hurt anymore, and the bump had gone down overnight. 

“In a hurry to leave?” Regina pointed her spoon at Zelena. “Have someone more interesting to see?”

Zelena didn’t speak for a while. Regina sat up straighter. 

“Wait. You do, don’t you?” Regina narrowed her eyes at her sister. “Who?”

Zelena picked at her blanket. “Her name is Mal. We met terrorizing a village in the Black Kingdom.”

“I can’t decide if you’re serious about the ‘terrorizing villages’ part but I can tell you’re serious about this Mal.” Regina chuckled. “I’m assuming she’s a witch?”

Zelena threw her head back. “Oh my god, she’s amazing. She can shapeshift into a dragon. She’s part dragon! It’s amazing!”

Zelena threw up her hands. Regina laughed. 

“You really like her, don’t you?” She felt a pang of longing. She hadn’t been in love in so long. 

“Yes. She’s incredibly good in-,” Zelena began, but Regina waved her hand, choking on her food. 

Once she had her breathing back under her control, Regina told Zelena red-faced, “I would really rather not know that.”

“Oh, Regina.” Zelena patted her leg. “I wish the same for you.”

“I’m not sure if that’s ever going to happen.” Regina told her. 

“Oh I don’t know. That Swan woman seems like she would be pretty great.” Zelena drawled. 

Regina almost choked again. She spat her food back into her bowl before she could. Zelena gave her a look. 

“I hardly know her.” Regina replied. She set her breakfast aside, deciding that she would rather not die choking on it. “She’s only been her for 3 days.”

“Hmph.” Zelena stood. “Seemed pretty cozy with her yesterday.”

Regina felt her face go hot thinking about how she’d leaned into Swan. “I was injured.”

“She also spent an awful lot of time in here yesterday.” Zelena was not buying it. 

She wasn’t wrong, Swan spent much of the afternoon and evening with Regina, only leaving to bring her food. She’d talked most of the time, asking Regina to share stories of her own. She’d listened quietly, asking more questions here and there. Henry and Zelena came in sporadically to check on them. Whenever Regina or Swan invited them to stay with Regina they just shook their heads, made an excuse of work to do around the cottage and let them be. 

Regina wondered if they’d done it on purpose. 

Regina glared at her sister. She crossed her arms. “I was injured.”

“Whatever you say.” Zelena teased. 

Then, expression serious, Zelena told her, “I really do want you to find someone, sis. You deserve to be happy.”

“I am happy.” Regina declared. “I have Henry, I live a good life, and this cottage-,”

“Could use one more body to make it a home.” Zelena cut her off. She reached down and took Regina’s hand. 

“Please try. Henry is growing up. He’s going to want to travel, or at least spend more time in town with people his own age. He might want to marry someday and settle down, or go on an adventure of his own.” Zelena told her. 

“I know that.” Regina sighed. 

“Then, please. Hell, Swan could at least be a good start.” Zelena winked at her, though she closed both eyes when she tried it.

“First, never do that again.” Regina told her. “You look funny trying. Second, I’m not sure that would be a good idea until her curse is gone.”

“Yes, about her curse…” Zelena began.

“Yes?” Regina raised a brow at her sister in question.

“You saw it, didn’t you? Right before the monster attacked?” Zelena asked. 

Regina remembered the sigil she saw. Most magic users left a signature behind in their work. Especially when their magic was a point of pride for them. Rumplestiltskin was notoriously prideful of his work. His sigil would be recognizable to any witch or other magic user that worked with curses. 

“If she’s cursed by him, she probably knows what the curse is.” Zelena stated. “The Dark One likes to make sure his victims remember why they are living such a tortured existence, whatever their offence.”

“Right.” Regina felt a sense of foreboding. Swan hadn’t exactly said that she didn’t know anything about her curse. However, she was not exactly forthcoming about it. She went through all of Regina’s tests, but maybe she was humoring her and Henry. She also avoided any conversation surrounding her curse the day before, steering the conversation in any other direction whenever they veered into speaking about it. 

But, why?

She didn’t have too much time to ponder reasons.

“Come see me off, sis.” Zelena moved toward the door. “I have a dragon awaiting me in her rather beautiful castle.”

Regina climbed out of bed to see her sister off. She would have to speak to Swan later. 

* * *

Regina waited until she could send Henry on a short trip to the stream to get more water before she pulled Swan into the little cottage for a private chat. 

She rounded on Swan the moment the door closed. 

“You were cursed by the Dark One.” Regina stepped into Swan’s space. “And if there is anything any magic user knows, it’s that Rumplestiltskin often leaves the people he curses with the full knowledge of what he has done. So, what was it then? Did you make a deal with him and break it?”

Backed into the door, Swan tilted her chin. “I would never make a deal with that monster.”

“Then what was it? Did you offend him somehow? Wrong place, wrong time?” Regina crossed her arms. Rumplestiltskin was notoriously temperamental. Getting in his way could cost a person as much as anyone that insulted him. “You’re a witch. Did you challenge him or something?”

Swan didn’t answer. Frustrated Regina stepped closer to her. “Well. What is it?”

Swan sighed. “I don’t think I should say.”

Regina’s shoulders dropped. “How can I help you if you won’t talk to me?”

She was probably foolish for allowing some vulnerability, but she hoped the other witch would see her and open up. Swan looked away and Regina’s heart sank. 

“I don’t think you can.” She said it softly, so much so that Regina had to lean in to hear her.

“Why not?” Regina searched her face. Expressionless, as usual. Swan’s eyes were as empty as ever. 

“Because if you did, it might put him in danger.” Swan nodded towards the window. Henry passed by the window’s view, carrying buckets of water. 

“What does Henry have to do with this?” Regina reached out when Swan looked away. She grabbed Swan’s chin, forcing her to look her in the eyes.

“What does my son have to do with you?” 

“Everything.” Swan’s voice was low and cold. 

Regina stepped away, pushing Swan off to the side as the knob on the door to the cottage turned. She pretended to go about tidying up while Swan stood aside, uselessly. 

“We should get bigger buckets when we go into town next, mom.” Henry told her.

Regina gave him a wry smile. “Why? So you can prove that you can carry more water?”

Henry chuckled. “Maybe I just want to make less trips to the stream for more water.”

He smirked at his mother, “Unless of course you decide to keep tripping and knocking over the water buckets.”

Regina rolled her eyes at her son. She needed to get Swan alone, so she ‘tripped’ over both buckets, claiming that her head injury must have left her with a bit of clumsiness. 

Swan watched them, something lonely passing over her pale features. 

“I should go.” Swan told them. 

“What? No, we haven’t helped you yet!” Henry immediately objected. 

“Nothing against your abilities, I don’t think you could help me.” Swan looked at Regina meaningfully, as if to indicate that she should step in.

Regina took a deep breath, preparing herself. “Henry. Swan has been cursed by the most powerful magic user, the Dark One. Whatever he has done, it may be unbreakable.”

“Surely there has to be something we can do?” Henry looked back and forth between both witches. 

Regina knew that wasn’t possible while Swan continued to be unwilling to share what she knew about her own curse. “Henry-,”

Swan shook her head. “I have to go. I have to return to the forest. There’s someone out there that needs me to lead them out.”

Regina got the sense that she was lying, but she seemed determined to leave. It was as good an excuse as any.

“Oh.” Henry nodded. “I understand. You have to help someone, like you helped me?”

“Yes.” Swan smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Okay.” Henry went over to her and pulled her into a hug. Swan’s eyes widened. Regina frowned. 

“Just, come visit.” Henry told her. “We can do some research in the meantime.”

“Right.” Swan patted his shoulder as she pulled away. She stalked over to the door. 

“Goodbye to you both. Thank you for trying.” Swan’s gaze lingered on first Henry, as if trying to memorize him, then on Regina. “It was nice.”

Regina felt her heart ache as Swan shut the door. 

“I hope she comes back.” Henry whispered. 

“Me too, Henry.” Regina replied. She meant it. “Me too.”

* * *

Swan was gone for a week. Regina and Henry returned to their routine around the little cottage. Regina produced some potions as her son went about making repairs around the cottage. 

A few hours after Swan left, Regina found the pair of boots she gave her in the shed. The blankets she used were folded neatly on top of a barrel. 

Regina could tell Henry stayed busy because he missed the presence of the other witch. He bonded with her quickly. Regina chalked it up to him being such a friendly young man, but then what Zelena said to her creeped in on her at night as she went to sleep. Her son was growing older, and he had no friends. 

He would be wanting to change that in the future. 

The two of them worked in their garden harvesting the herbs and edible plants that were ready for them when they heard a commotion in the forest. They quickly dropped their tools and equipment, hurrying towards the source of sound.

The shadow spirit that broke through the trees was far larger than any they saw before. It was as big as the little cottage. Regina grabbed Henry and ushered him behind his wards. They left them up after Swan left, not trusting that the shadow spirits wouldn’t show up again now that they knew about them. 

The shadow monster crashed through the clearing and smashed claws against the wards. The house shook, but Henry’s wards held up. He looked over to his mother with widened eyes. 

“What do we do?”

Regina was at a loss. She had no idea. She didn’t have strong enough light magic to fight off a beast so huge. The darker parts of herself were still there, a peripheral on the edges of her magic. 

If only Swan were here. Regina thought of the woman. She longed for her power. She reached out to open the door, preparing herself to throw more magic into Henry’s wards. Henry stopped her. 

“No, mom, not again.”

She was touched. He really was a good son. “Henry. I have to strengthen your wards.”

She opened the door. The house shook, dust knocking off the walls as she reached out to the wards. Regina held her hands out as the shadow monster smashed against the wards. 

Taking a deep breath, Regina thought of all the things that ever made her happy. She thought of her son. Of Zelena, as dark as she was, how much they loved each other and fought for one another. She thought of Swan. 

Light magic flickered in her palms, then turned into small, blazing suns. She pushed all that she had into the wards. Henry joined her, pushing his own magic into them. 

Light filled their house and the ward outside of it. When the light faded, the shadow monster was gone. Swan ran into the clearing not long after. 

She ran towards the door. 

“Are you both all right?” Swan asked. 

“I think so.” Regina grimaced from inside the cottage. “What happened to that shadow monster?”

Swan looked up at her. “I was chasing after it, but it got pretty far ahead. I caught up with it here, and then I don’t know. I saw the light from the cottage and then it was gone.”

“Maybe you both summoned enough light to get rid of it?” Swan glanced over at Henry. 

“Maybe.” Regina said, dubious. She frowned. “Swan, this the fourth time such a dangerous shadow spirit came after my son. They’re getting bigger and stronger. I’m going to need you to come clean about your curse.”

Swan nodded solemnly. 

“It’s probably for the best that I do.”

* * *

Swan sat outside of the wards. Regina and Henry pushed them out from the door of the cottage so that they could sit outside with her. Regina handed Swan a cup of tea, setting aside a kettle with more of it. She sat cross-legged behind the ward and across from Emma sitting cross-legged on the other side of it. 

Swan took a sip and cleared her throat. She looked at first Henry, then Regina. 

“First, I must start us over from the beginning and reintroduce myself.” Swan told them. “My name is Emma. Emma Swan.”

“Emma?” Regina frowned. “Why not tell us your name?”

“Not sure.” Swan, -no, Emma-, told her truthfully. “I think, maybe I hoped if I went by a different name I wouldn’t get attached to you both.”

Emma chuckled and muttered something under her breath. Regina caught part of it. “ _-feel anything enough to get attached.”_

She didn’t call her out on it. Emma took a sip of her tea, shaking her head as if to shake off her thoughts. 

“Nobody has seen me for years.” Emma, confessed to them. “I spent so long invisible, that to finally be seen and remembered by someone… well, to have you both know my name and forget-,”

Emma swallowed. Henry listened with a thoughtful expression. Something about the way he looked made Regina think of Emma.

“What do you mean?” Henry asked. “Invisible? Forget?”

Emma looked down at her tea. “I help people out of the forest after they’ve been attacked by a shadow spirit. I’ve only been visible by a handful of people, but it’s like the instant they step onto the road, they stop being able to see me. Every single person I’ve helped before forgets I was ever there, and they end up wondering how they made it to the road.”

She looked meaningfully at them both. “You both not only saw me, but also remembered me after I showed up here that first time.”

“But-,” Regina frowned. “You told me…”

She stopped to think about that day Emma spent in her room regaling her with stories of people she helped. Emma never once mentioned direct interactions with any of the people. Just something funny about them, a conversation she overheard, or saves she made in the nick of time.

Emma gave her a strained smile. “I was invisible to and forgotten by every single person and group of people I mentioned.”

“I’m sorry.” Regina told her earnestly. She reached beyond the ward to lay a hand on Emma’s knee. 

“Is that part of your curse?” Henry asked. His eyes darted between his mom and Emma. Regina withdrew her hand. She didn’t want him to get any ideas about the two of them.

“Yes.” Emma sighed. “Rumplestiltskin made sure I could never ask anyone for help.”

Regina looked at her curiously at that. “And yet, I’m a cursebreaker.” 

Emma chuckled at the irony. “Yes, it’s quite interesting that the moment someone could see me it was the son of someone like you.”

They were all quiet as they stopped to sip on their teas. Regina pondered the meaning of it all, if it had one. Perhaps it was fate of some kind? Knowing the Dark One though, it could be that he was bored of his own curse. Or perhaps he wanted the curse broken for some other reason. They couldn’t know until it was broken.

“So what exactly is your curse?” Regina asked, holding Emma’s gaze.

“To fight ‘darkness’ for all of eternity. To never be seen, loved, held, or cherished ever again. To never be offered food and drink. To never die nor age. And…” Emma took a deep breath. “To never be able to love again.” 

She reached across her chest, gripping the edge of her white robe. She pushed the material over and pulled down the collar of her shirt. 

An ugly scar lay over her chest where her heart should be. Regina finally understood Emma’s lack of affect. 

“To make sure that last part stuck, the Dark One cut out my heart. Then he placed it inside of the oldest, biggest tree in the center of the Enchanted Forest and chained a very powerful shadow dragon to it to keep me away.” Emma told them. 

Regina shook her head, lip curling in disgust. “Doing something like that... “

“He didn’t want me to be able to break his curse with something like-,”

“True love.” Regina finished. 

“Yes.” Emma confirmed. 

True love was the best way to break any curse. Unfortunately, it was incredibly rare, and for someone to break a curse with it, they would have to be lucky enough to find their true love, if they had one. 

It was something Regina did her best to avoid recommending as the cure to a curse. Some could end up searching for all of eternity only to die of their curse or natural causes when no one ever freed them. A very small number of her clients did have true love written into their curse as the only cure, but most magic users preferred curses they themselves could break. Regina only witnessed a curse broken by true love twice in her life. 

“So why, did the Dark One curse you?” Henry questioned. Regina frowned at him. Emma regarded him with a strange expression for a long time. 

“I broke his son’s heart.” Emma finally answered. 

* * *

Regina walked Emma to the shed. “It was… It must have been difficult to share all of that.”

Emma shrugged. “I’m sorry I wasn’t up front.” 

“No, I, I understand.” Regina reassured. “It’s a strange curse.”

“Yeah…” Emma trailed off, looking off into a distance Regina didn’t see. 

“It must have been difficult. All those years.” Regina whispered. “Fighting off shadow spirits to survive. I don’t know how you kept going.”

Emma looked at her, something briefly passed across her expression, something wistful. She touched her chest, right over where her heart no longer held a home, Regina noticed. Emma made the gesture whenever she seemed to be thinking about something that should have an emotion attached, like she was doing now.

“I had no choice but to keep going.” Emma spoke softly. “But I’m… It’s good that I did.”

Regina smiled. “I’m glad that you did.”

They stood staring at one another for a beat too long. Regina felt the tension building between them. Emma continued to hold her hand over her chest. 

Emma cleared her throat. “You should rest.”

“I should.” Regina agreed. She stepped into Emma’s space. 

“What are you-?” Emma swallowed as Regina stepped closer and wrapped her arms around her. 

“You may not have your heart, Emma. But you are still incredibly good.” Regina whispered as she embraced Emma.

Emma wrapped her arms around her lower back. “Thank you.”

Regina pulled away. She cleared her throat as she pushed a lock of her own hair behind her ear. 

“You will be staying with us, won’t you?” Regina asked.

“I think it might be best.” Emma replied. “I’m not sure why, but the shadow spirits keep returning here and you would be much safer if I’m nearby to fight them off even if you did handle yourselves pretty well today.”

“We did indeed.” Regina grinned one-sided. “Hope we didn’t rob you of a chance to save us again.”

“May I ask how you managed to summon enough light magic to drive the shadow monster off?”

Regina flushed. “Magic is emotion. I just thought of all the things that make me happy.”

Emma nodded. “You must have a great many things to be happy about.”

That made Regina frown. “If you don’t have your heart, how are you able to do light magic like that?”

Emma shrugged. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that my light magic is… corrupted?”

Regina nodded. She had, indeed, noticed.

“The Dark One tied my magic directly to the curse and the shadow spirits. He made sure I would have to fight them and that I had the ability to fend them off, but…” Swan looked at her hands. “My magic becomes too much. Sometimes, it becomes so much that it burns.”

“I’m sorry.” Regina didn’t know what else to say. How else to offer comfort.

Emma shrugged again. Regina yawned. The encounter with the shadow monster left her exhausted. Emma stepped away, towards the shed.

“Go rest, Regina. I’ll be here in the morning.” Emma turned and told her. 

“You too, Sw-, Emma.” Regina hoped Emma meant it. A piece of her worried Emma would run off again. Sure, she and Henry had been able to fight off the latest shadow monster, but she felt much safer with Emma around. 

Regina looked back on Emma one more time as she made her way back to the cottage. They would figure out how to break her curse somehow. 

* * *

The next morning, Regina began her routine as usual. She changed her clothes, brushed her hair, and washed her face in the wash basin.

It wasn’t until Regina turned to tell Henry their morning tea was ready that she noticed something wrong. Henry wasn’t sitting at the table waiting for her to decide on what to have for breakfast. Regina frowned. 

“Henry?” She called through the little cottage. She walked over to the ladder to his loft. 

“Henry?” She called again before climbing. 

When she reached the top of the ladder, Regina didn’t see him in his bed. She frowned and climbed into the loft, looking around at his things. Something was off. 

Then Regina realized what was missing. Henry’s travel gear, and his bookshelf was in disarray. Missing at least two books. Books Zelena gave to him about the Enchanted Forest.

“No.” Regina rushed out of the loft and down the ladder. She hurried out of the cottage, looking around wildly. She threw out a bit of her magic, seeking Henry’s. 

It was far. Very far. 

“No!” Regina repeated in a frenzy. For him to be that far, he would have had to leave in the night. After everyone went to sleep, perhaps?

Emma emerged from the shed as Regina walked around back of the cottage. Hero was missing as well. Henry must have taken him with him. 

“What’s going on?” Emma wondered. 

Regina ignored her. She began to march toward the stream, hoping she was mistaken. Hoping Henry would be there getting water. Hoping. 

He wasn’t there. She heard footsteps behind her. Emma. 

“This is all your fault!” Regina rounded on her, eyes blazing. “If you hadn’t come into our lives with your curse then he wouldn’t be missing!”

“My fault?” Subconsciously, Emma touched her chest over where her heart once was. Something, an echo, ached beneath the surface. “You were both under attack! I had to help you! You were both the ones that invited me to stay so that you might ‘cure’ my curse!”

“How am I to know that your curse doesn’t somehow allow you to summon those shadow spirits, hmm? How am I to know that you didn’t direct them to follow Henry?” Regina stepped into Emma’s space, nostrils flaring. 

Emma stilled. Then she said something that had Regina stepping back and away from her.

“It is my fault that they’re following him.”

Regina faltered in her fearful anger. “Wha-, what?”

“I was cursed by the Dark One. Because he was angry with me for losing his grandchild.” Emma told her much too calmly. Regina felt her heart still. 

Emma looked away. “Only I didn’t lose him.”

Regina pulled further back from Emma at the softness in her tone. She pressed her hand against her stomach, a gesture of her nervousness. 

Emma continued. “I knew I couldn’t protect my son from his father or his grandfather. So I waited. I waited until his father was gone away on some task for his father, the Dark One. Then I fled into the Enchanted Forest. I was 8 months pregnant. I wandered the forest for weeks. I knew I couldn’t leave or go near the roads or he would have an easier time finding me.” 

Regina shook her head. She couldn’t be saying, she couldn’t be saying that-,

“I had a baby boy 15 years ago in the forest. I knew I couldn’t keep him, we were in too much danger. So I kept going until my shoes were so worn they broke. I wandered until I stumbled on a pretty little cottage with a witch’s wards around it. I watched and waited until the witch came home.” Emma was almost rambling in her story-telling, like she was in a rush to get everything out. “I watched as she, as you, Regina, unpacked the things you brought home from town. And then I could feel his father getting closer in the forest. And so, after a few days of making sure I was sure, I put him in a basket, and placed him near the stream where you get the water for your potions every other morning.”

“And then you found him, and I placed a spell on myself so that I forgot where I left him.” Emma finished. She held her breath, watching Regina, waiting for her reaction. 

Regina’s expression turned to fury. She reached out to slap Emma, only for Emma to catch her wrist before her palm landed. 

“You knew?” Regina growled. “You know why they were coming after us, why they were here, why we were in danger and you didn’t tell us?”

Regina yanked her wrist from Emma’s grasp. She began to pace, all fury and frustration.

“First, you don’t tell us about your curse. Then you don’t tell us about your identity. You don’t tell us about-, about-,” Regina couldn’t get it out. She gritted her teeth, turning back to Emma and storming up to her. 

“Henry is my son! You left him. And now, you come back and you put him in danger?!” 

Emma almost looked guilty. She ducked her head. 

“He’s happy here.” She spoke softly. 

“I didn’t think it was a good idea to bring it up. Not when you both have something wonderful here.” Emma confessed. 

Regina’s lip trembled. She could feel her eyes sting. “My son is in danger. All because he wants to help you. He doesn’t even know you well. At all.”

“I know.” Emma touched her chest. “That’s how I know you’re doing so well with him. You’ve raised him to be so good, he’s willing to risk himself for a stranger.”

Regina turned away from Emma before the first tear slipped down her cheek. 

“We have to go after him.” She determined. “We cannot leave him to go fight some shadow dragon alone.”

“Then let’s go.” Emma said. “Let’s go find Henry.” 

* * *

“I’m sorry.” Regina said as they both trudged through the forest. She reached out with a bit of magic, tracking Henry but he was getting farther away. Soon, she wouldn’t be able to track him without something that recently had his touch. “I should never have said what I did.”

Emma stopped. She looked at Regina and a flicker of something crossed her features before disappearing. “You weren’t entirely wrong though, Regina. I haven’t been there. I did abandon him.”

“Yes, but, you abandoned him to save him. You gave him the best chance that you could.” Regina told her, honestly. Emma met her gaze. Regina reached out, taking Emma’s hand. It was uncommonly warm, she could feel her magic humming below the surface. 

“You made sure he went to a good home before giving him up.”

Emma’s mouth turned up a bit at that. “I did. I’ve only known him a few days, but you’re a wonderful mom.” 

Warmth stole across Regina’s chest to hear that. She let go of Emma’s hand and clutched at the sleeve of the black leather jacket she wore. A perfectly thoughtful gift from the very boy they spoke of. “Thank you.”

“He really is wonderful. I could not have asked for better for him.” Emma’s smile was much less forced this time. It was almost genuine. 

“How much longer before you can no longer sense him?” Emma wondered as they continued on. 

“Unfortunately, we don’t have much longer.” Regina replied. “He’s riding fast on Hero.” 

She didn’t have another horse to follow after him with, or she would have. Rocinante, her horse, had died a month ago. It was the other reason she allowed Henry to go into town alone. Roco had been with her for almost as long as Henry was alive. She stayed home to give her old friend as much love and care as she could before he died. 

“How does he know where he is going?” Emma questioned. “He was so terribly lost when I found him, I’m sure he even went in circles once or twice.”

“I’m not sure.” Regina admitted. “He could be using some sort of tracking spell. I know that Zelena brought him some books about the Enchanted Forest. One of them has a map.” 

“But even then, he would need some sort of navigation…” Regina drifted off in deep thought. Henry had also been missing a book on useful spells that could be used on animals. 

“Of course.” She said to no one in particular. “Henry must have enchanted Rocinante to find the center of the Enchanted Forest.”

“How would he do that?” Emma wondered.

“A navigation spell. One that would allow him to trace out a path on a map and enchant Hero to follow it.” 

“Sounds pretty advanced.” Emma commented. 

“It is pretty advanced.” Regina agreed. Then she frowned, thinking of something. “Henry’s magic…” 

“Yes?” Emma replied. 

“It comes from you, doesn’t it?” Regina realized. 

“Yes.” Emma nodded. “Before I was cursed, I was quite the light witch.”

Regina worried. “His father. Does he have magic?”

Emma stopped. She turned to Regina and took her hand into her own. 

“Yes. But, Regina, Henry’s magic…” She looked off into the trees. “Even if he has a bit of his father’s power, his magic is all light. And it’s all light because of you.”

Regina didn’t say anything, she looked down at their joined hands and squeezed. 

“Thank you, Emma.”

As they moved on, Regina sighed. “Henry is too far for me to feel. We may end up having to do this the old fashioned way.”

Regina crouched and looked around the forest floor. 

“There.” A broken branch and a leaf nearby holding a hoof print indented onto its surface. “Henry’s gone this way.”

* * *

Night fell and though they were making good progress following the trail of broken limbs, leaves and horse manure, it was getting too dark for them to see without magic or fire. Emma pushed for them to rest as she could tell Regina was getting tired, Regina growing more irritable as night fell. Emma reminded her that she needed to rest and she needed to eat. Regina only conceded to her point after Emma pointed out that they couldn’t have Regina fainting on the trail.

They ate toasted marshmallows and some berries that Regina deemed safe. Emma made a fire, making sure to surround it with stones and having Regina protect it with magic to keep the surrounding forest from catching on fire. Emma remembered how devastating wildfires could be. She would rather avoid them if she could. 

“What about you?” Emma asked as they sat beside one another, watching the campfire dance. 

Regina frowned, she continued to stare at the campfire. “What about me?” 

“Your magic. You’ve mentioned before that you used to do dark magic. Why did you convert to light?” Emma asked conversationally. “When and why did you decide to fix curses? Make potions?”

“This is hardly the time for socializing Miss Swan.” Regina quipped, glancing around the forest warily, as if to remind Emma where they were, and what they were in danger of. 

“It is, but at this point, I would like to know more about the mother of…” Emma began, but then promptly closed her mouth when Regina glared at her, as if to silently tell her, “finish that sentence, I dare you”.

Regina huffed and returned her attention to the campfire. She was silent for so long that Emma thought she wouldn’t answer. 

“My mother was a witch. A very dark witch. She married a nobleman, then, after I was born, she poisoned him.” Regina began. Emma listened silently, much like she had when Regina hit her head. “When I was young, she would use her magic on me and my sister to punish us, especially when we were not the perfect little ladies that she wanted to make us into. Then, one day, my sister manifested her first bit of magic and my mother had something else to mold us into. She wanted to make us powerful witches.”

Regina glared at the dwindling fire. It roared into life. Emma didn’t flinch, only watched Regina. She seemed to be struggling with some long past memory.

“I was 16 when I fell in love with the stable boy. I was 16 when my mother killed him.” Regina told Emma, flatly. “She couldn’t have some boy getting in the way of our rise to power. I was also 16 when I and Zelena duelled my mother and killed her. After that, the two of us left our childhood home and wandered.”

Emma added a few more logs to the fire. She reached out, double-checking to make sure they were still safe. She didn’t sense any lost souls or shadow spirits. She didn’t flinch at Regina’s admission of killing her own mother. The woman sounded cruel and to Emma, her fate seemed just. 

Regina continued, “We wandered for years. We terrorized villages and cursed people at our will. It got so bad that we were beginning to gain infamy and people were shuttering whole towns the moment we showed up.” 

“What made you stop?” Emma asked, voice soft. Regina glanced at her. She saw no judgement in Emma’s eyes. 

“We happened on a man who’d been cursed.”

“Your first curse fix?”

“Yes. The man owned the local tavern. He’d refused to serve a man, the man turned out to be a warlock. He cursed him so that any liquid passing his lips would turn into ale.” Regina explained. “He was desperate to be done with the curse, so he sought us out. He was willing to offer us anything to help him.” 

“At first, Zelena laughed at him, she was going to curse him further, but then I saw his desperation. He knew of us, knew we were more likely to curse him than help him, but he came to us anyway. So, I asked him what he had to offer.” Regina paused, remembering just how the man kneeling in the mud begging to be freed of his curse. 

Emma watched her with rapt attention. Regina continued her story, “He offered us a pair of horses and some jewels he’d gotten from a drunk nobleman that he served one night. I convinced Zelena to help lift his curse. It took us a few days to unravel it, but once we did, he was so happy he offered to give us his entire stock of ale. We passed him on the offer, but then he sold his tavern and gave us the money from the sale. He never wanted to touch ale again in his life, so he left to join some priesthood or other.”

“Is that how you got into the whole potions and curse-lifting business?” Emma wondered. 

“Yes, well, and-,” Regina contemplated the fire. “We’d been wandering for years. I was tired of it. Tired of wandering, and tired of being stared at with fear in every village we’d go to. I wanted something else.”

Emma nodded. “That seems like it would get tiresome fairly quickly.”

“It was. And lonely. My only friend was Zelena, and she wasn’t always the easiest traveling companion. So, I bought the cottage. Got a pretty good price from an old woodsman looking to move into town. Zelena stayed a while, but then she wanted something else so she left with regular visits. Then…” Regina shrugged. “Then I found Henry.”

“Ah.” Emma nodded again. “So that’s when you started using light magic.”

“Yes.” Regina agreed. “Light magic is also better for making healing potions.”

“That it is.” Emma agreed. 

Regina regarded Emma lit up by the fire. Her expression was empty as it often was. Regina wondered what she was like before her curse. The woman didn’t joke and she hardly smiled. The expression often looked foreign upon her features. Her eyes were dull and empty. Was that what living without a heart was like?

“What were you like before the curse?” Regina blurted, her curiosity getting the best of her. 

“Well, you know that I was a witch.” Emma answered. “But I was a healer. A fairly good one. One good enough that royals from all over would send for me or bring themselves to me for treatment.” 

“A healer?” Regina glanced Emma over. “Is that the reason for the robes?”

Emma subconsciously tugged the sleeve of the aforementioned robe. “Yes. I just happened to be wearing these when I was cursed. Rumple also made sure I could never change them and that they would never wear down over time.”

It was a cruel reminder of her predicament. One she would be glad to get rid of should she ever break her curse. 

“Henry’s father…” Regina stopped. “No, I don’t want to know anymore. If he’s the Dark One’s son, then-,”

“He wasn’t always cruel.” Emma interrupted. “He was good when I first met him, he was brought to me by the Dark One himself, having suffered a terrible illness. There are a lot of things the Dark One can do but healing his son of disease is not one of them.”

Emma almost looked wistful. “I healed him, cared for him. He stuck around, helping me as I healed others, though sometimes he would leave to do something for his father. I never asked what because I figured it was best to stay out of the Dark One’s business.”

“His kindness was a facade. I didn’t realize that until after we married.” 

“I’m sorry.” Regina whispered, solemnly.

“He became abusive, and I was afraid to leave. He would remind me of who his father was. How I would never get far because he would always find me.” Emma touched her chest. 

“Once I realized I was pregnant, I knew I had to get away.” 

“I’m glad you did.” Regina replied. She covered Emma’s hand with hers. “You gave Henry a better life. You gave me one too.”

Emma opened her mouth to speak but stopped. Her chest ached and her body was all too warm, but not from her magic burning through her. She looked down at Regina’s hand covering hers and turned her own over, interlacing their fingers. The warmth increased. 

Puzzled, Emma looked into Regina’s eyes. Brown eyes were lit up by the fire, and something more. Something Emma had trouble reaching, but not something she had trouble recognizing. It wasn’t pity. Regina looked at her with admiration.

Emma pulled away. “We should get some rest.”

“Right.” Regina exhaled. She hadn’t even realized she was holding her breath.

They pulled a blanket out of the travel pack Regina carried. She laid it out on the ground. 

“We’ll have to sleep next to one another to keep warm.” 

“Right.” Emma agreed. 

Emma waited until Regina laid down and made herself comfortable before she laid down. Once she was settled, she stared up into the bits of light she could see above the canopy of trees. She reached out with her power. There was still no sign of shadow spirits. Henry was out there, and yet, there were no spirits going after him. 

“Sleep, Emma.” Regina whispered. “I can hear you thinking.”

“Sorry.” Emma muttered. She turned over onto her side, but then realized she could feel Regina shivering beside her. Emma turned over onto her other side, lifting her robe and ever so carefully sliding up behind Regina. 

“What are you-?” Regina stopped speaking as Emma’s rob fell around her. Emma pulled her into her body, the heat radiating off of her warming Regina. Regina forgot how cold the forest could be at night, and while the jacket Henry gave her was great, it wasn’t the warmest. 

Regina relaxed into Emma.

“Do you think I could continue to see Henry after we find him?” Emma suddenly asked softly. 

Regina didn’t answer. Emma leaned over and found her asleep. She would just have to ask again the next day.

* * *

Regina woke up, face pressed into something incredibly warm. She hummed and tightened her arm around the softness, her arm trapped between herself and it. A yawn and a moan caused her to open her eyes. 

Oh. She must have turned over in her sleep. Her head was tucked into Emma’s chest, her arms wrapped around Emma comfortably.

Emma cleared her throat and Regina blushed. Carefully, both women pulled themselves away from one another. 

“Sleep well?” Emma’s voice was rough with sleep.

“As well as one can when sleeping on the ground.” Regina answered. 

“I’ve done it for years.”

Regina sobered at that. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

They both knew it wasn’t, but maybe… maybe once they found Henry, Regina could offer Emma a place to sleep. She wasn’t sure how Henry would take learning the identity of his parents after all this time, but Regina wasn’t ready to let go of Emma just yet. 

They gathered up the blanket and ate some berries and resumed the trail. They walked for some time, Emma helping Regina find Henry’s trail. They only stopped once for a short midday meal, keeping it short. 

“How much further is the center of this place?” Regina wondered aloud as they walked. The horse manure they just happened on was less than a day old, but it still worried Regina that Henry would be in danger once he reached the tree that held Emma’s heart. 

“Not long.” Emma commented. “In fact, you two live pretty close to the center, about 3 days’ walk from it.”

That meant Henry would probably reach the center soon. Regina’s anxiety over her son worsened. The fallen trees, broken limbs, and various vegetation on the forest floor were probably all that slowed Henry down. However, he was a determined 15-year-old boy and she knew that nothing would stop him from reaching the center.

Regina sped up. “We should hurry.”

* * *

They were still following his trail as it grew darker in the forest when Regina spotted something shiny amongst the leaves on the ground. She knelt down. 

“Henry’s pendant.” Regina commented. She held up the enchanted swan charm. Of course, a swan. For his mother. She’d found him with it when he was a baby. She sensed the magic surrounding it, which Regina now recognized as Emma’s though the enchantment was purer and cleaner than Emma’s was now. It was the magic of a young mother’s love. 

Emma’s face drained of all color. “Oh, no. Oh no. Nononono.”

“What is it?” Regina grew concerned as Emma began to pace.

Emma stopped in her tracks. She turned to Regina, with an expression full of more emotion than Regina ever saw her have. “I enchanted the charm to protect him, but I also enchanted it to keep his father from being able to find him.”

“So without the charm…,” Regina followed her train of thought. She realized now, why Henry never took it off. Even when he was a baby, he would cry when she tried to remove it. Regina supposed that it was because he could sense that it contained the magic of his parents, but now she understood. Henry subconsciously sensed that he was in danger whenever he took it off. 

“We have to hurry and find Henry. Before his father finds him.” Emma told her. 

Regina nodded. She held up the charm. 

“At least now, we can use this to track him.” Regina mentioned. She reached into her bag for the location potion she brought with her just in case they found something of Henry’s. Regina uncorked the bottle and poured it over the charm. Nothing happened at first, but then, the charm lifted from the ground and floated off and stopped, as if waiting for them. 

“Nifty.” Emma commented. 

“Yes, it’s very useful. We should hurry.” Regina told her. Emma agreed and they rushed after the pendant as it floated through the forest. 

* * *

Emma keeled over, clutching her chest. Her ears rang as she clutched her chest and her magic seared through her in a way that felt as if it were screaming.

“Emma! Emma, what is it?” Regina touched her shoulder, concerned. She glanced at the pendant. It hovered, waiting on them to follow. 

Warmth blossomed from where Regina touched her. Emma pulled away from Regina as if burned. Regina curled her fingers away as if stung. 

“Sorry it’s… Pain.” Emma gasped. “I think, I think maybe we might be close.”

“To Henry?” Regina asked.

“To Henry.” Emma confirmed. Regina’s eyes fell to where she rubbed at her chest. “And to my heart.”

Panic invaded Regina’s whole being. She grabbed Emma’s hand. Emma groaned and pulled her hand away again. 

“We should run.” Regina urged her. “Do you think you can continue?”

Emma nodded. “Yes.” The pain faded some, but as she straightened she did her best to keep her breathing under control. 

“Are you sure?” Regina questioned, concerned. 

“I’m sure.” Emma winced at another bolt of pain. “We have to get to Henry.”

The pendant resumed its path, moving much quicker as Regina and Emma ran after it, doing their best to keep track of it as the forest darkened.

* * *

Emma and Regina broke through the trees into a clearing. Regina would have stopped to stare at the enormous tree in the center of it, but Henry was backed up against the trunk. An enormous shadow dragon snarled in his face. 

“Henry!” Regina called. He looked away from the dragon and at Regina. The dragon’s attention snapped away from him to look at Regina and Emma. It opened its great maw and Emma pushed Regina out of the way, but not before grabbing the pendant out of the air. Black flames covered the ground where they once stood. 

Emma threw out a whip of light magic. The shadow dragon roared. 

“Go!” She ordered Regina. “Get to Henry. I’ll keep this thing busy.” 

Regina didn’t have time to object or encourage Emma. Henry edged around the trunk of the tree, trapped between two enormous roots. She dived out of the way as Emma threw up a wall of light. Black flames licked at it, eating the magic away until it dissolved. Regina understood why Emma hadn’t taken her heart back from it on her own. The dragon’s darkness was so powerful that it made Regina feel sick just being near it. 

She reached Henry with some hardship. Emma threw up shields and hit the dragon with light everytime it looked like it was going to turn its attention towards Regina and Henry. Regina pulled him into her arms. 

“I’m so glad we made it to you.” She told him. 

“I just wanted to help her, mom.” Henry explained. “I knew we weren’t far from the center after reading Zelena’s books.”

Regina pulled away to look him in the eye. “Henry, it was very foolish of you to run off like you did.”

Henry looked down, sheepish. “I know. I’m sorry mom. I didn’t say anything because I thought if I did, you, or Emma would have come up with excuses not to go after her heart.”

Regina knew he wasn’t wrong. Emma probably would have explained more about the dragon she currently fought. She was beginning to look drained. 

They were here now though and they were at the trunk of the tree. She touched the bark. She’d never seen a wider tree trunk in all of her life. It was easily wider than their cottage multiplied by five. 

“Where would her heart be?” Regina wondered aloud. 

“I don’t know, but I suspect it might be on the other side of the trunk. That’s where the dragon came from when I was coming around the edge.”

Regina nodded. “Okay, well, since we are already here, let’s get to Emma’s heart, shall we?” 

Henry smiled at that. They both looked at a particularly loud roar from the dragon. One of its shadowy wings hung limp, torn. The dragon let out another ear-shattering roar, blowing black flames into the air. 

“Let’s hurry.” Regina grabbed Henry and climbed over a particularly huge root with Henry’s help. 

They worked like that for some time, Henry lifting her and Regina pulling him up and over roots. Once they reached the other side of the tree, Regina noticed a particularly large, glowing gap beneath the tree’s trunk. She could hear thumping coming from it. Roots surrounded the gap, growing over and around it. 

Regina crouched, sensing magic coming from the gap. She hoped she wasn’t making a mistake as she knelt and crawled beneath a root. The gap was just big enough to crawl through. The thumping sound echoed, filling her ears. As Regina crawled deeper with Henry behind her, she couldn’t tell whether the thumping was outside of her, or if it was coming from within her own heart. 

They emerged into a carved out hollow room within the core of the trunk. The glow emanated from a pedestal in the center of it. The light pulsed with the heart that lay nestled in a cushioned box on top of the pedestal. Regina approached it cautiously as Henry emerged from the crawlspace behind her. 

“Is that her heart?” Henry looked around in awe. 

“I think so.” Regina told him. She moved closer to the heart. She could feel magic coming off the pedestal. Dark magic surrounded it. 

Regina stopped before her foot touched the blackened ring surrounding the pedestal. She put a hand out to stop Henry and pointed down. 

“I think there’s a trap.” Regina explained. 

“What do we do?”

“I’m not sure.” 

Regina reached out with her magic. She was repelled by the darkness. She sighed.

“I think I know something we can try.” She was hesitant to do it, but she knew that if they were to free Emma, she would have to do something. 

Regina reached inwards for all those things that filled her with darkness. The loss of Daniel, the stable boy she once loved. Her mother’s abuse. Her fear of losing Henry. The insecurity that Emma might never feel what she was beginning to realize she felt. That last part made her chest ache. Zelena wanted her to find something more, to find someone of her own, but Regina long ago accepted a fate in which she might not ever have anyone. 

She reached out to the dark magic surrounding the pedestal and passed her own through. It fluttered against her own magic, recognizing that it wasn’t quite the same as the magic that created it, but it welcomed her anyway. 

Regina closed her eyes. The dark magic filled her skin, wrapping around and through her. It filled her throat. She was intoxicated. Regina summoned fire using both her magic and that of the Dark One’s magic. The light within the tree changed into flickering violet. 

Regina realized her mistake when the violet fire rushed over her arms. She was going to be consumed by darkness. 

“Henry.” Regina kept her voice calm despite her impending doom. The trap was down, she knew. “Henry, grab the heart. Grab it, quickly.”

“Mom!” Henry cried, seeing the violet fire rush across her chest. 

“Henry, it will be okay. You have to grab Emma’s heart!” 

Henry threw himself forward. He grabbed the heart from the pedestal. 

“Mom!” Henry cried again as she turned back to Regina. 

She was engulfed by violet flame. All of Regina’s fears, her hatred, matricide, all of her darkness would consume her. It was agony. 

“Mom!” Henry called to her. He lifted his hands, ready to use his own magic but Regina stopped him with a “No!” 

If he reached out with his magic the darkness would consume him instead of Regina. The flame wavered as she thought of his light. Thought of how strong he was, how smart, kind, and how much a little baby she found by a stream changed the course of her life. A gift Emma was responsible for, and one she gladly would have returned the favor for. Henry watched as the flame dancing over her skin flickered until it turned to gold.

It dissipated as Regina realized something else. 

She leaned over, gasping and retching. Henry rushed to her side. 

“Are you okay, mom?” Henry touched her shoulder. 

“I think, I think I’m fine.” Regina leaned into the touch. Exhaustion replaced the flames that had filled her. 

Regina straightened as a particularly deafening dragon’s screech echoed within the hollow. “We have to get back to Emma!”

With that, Regina pushed Henry toward the crawlspace. He cradled Emma’s heart to his chest as crouched and crawled through, Regina right behind him.

* * *

They came around the tree to witness Emma brandishing a sword made of light magic at the dragon. 

“Emma!” Henry called to her. 

Emma turned to look at him, her eyes falling to the heart he held close to his chest. At the same time, the shadow dragon noticed them. It roared black flame in their direction, but the fire was redirected as Emma jumped on the dragon’s back, piercing it with her light. 

The scream the shadow dragon released was enough to shatter Regina’s hearing. She watched as the shadow dragon fell and Emma rolled off it’s back into the dirt. Henry and Regina ran to her. 

Regina gathered Emma up into her arms. The shadow dragon slowly dissolved into the air behind her. 

Emma’s magical reserves were dwindling but her pulse was fine. She would be okay.

“I’m sorry, mom! I’m sorry!” Henry knelt down, still clutching Emma’s heart. 

“We have your heart, Emma! Please don’t die!” Henry glanced over her shoulder, as if worried the shadow dragon would reappear. 

“She’s not dying. Not yet anyways.” Regina reached out and cupped his cheek. “Her magic is just drained.”

Her hand drifted from his cheek to touch the heart he continued to hold. “I think we should put this back where it belongs, don’t you?”

“Right.” Henry daintily handed over the heart. Regina held it like she would a newborn. 

She would need just a drop of darkness to do this bit of magic. It was one she knew from studying with her mother. Regina pushed back Emma’s robe, and pushed her shirt away from the scar over her chest. She held the heart against pale skin and thinking of all the new fears she had, she pushed the heart through the surface. Regina quickly withdrew her hand once the heart was in place. 

Emma gasped and sat up. 

“I-,” Emma looked around the clearing. She reached up to cup Regina’s face. “You’re okay.”

She looked relieved. Regina smiled. “I’m okay.”

“Henry?” Emma glanced over at him.

“I’m fine too.”

Emma smiled rather brilliantly at that. She touched her chest, tears slipping down her cheek. 

Regina reached out to wipe them away. They held each other like that for some time, not caring that Henry watched them. Regina could see what she felt reflected back at her in Emma’s eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Henry speaking.

“Umm, mom, who is that?”

* * *

A man stood in the clearing below the tree. His skin, greenish and scaly, eyes yellow. His black hair was cut short and slicked back. He smiled behind a scruffy beard. He would have almost looked roguishly friendly if not for the scaly skin and lizard eyes. 

“Hello, son.” He looked directly at Henry as he said it. Regina’s heart stopped. 

“Baelfire.” Emma hurried to her feet, nearly tripping in the process. Regina held her steady as she stood. 

“Son?” Henry stared at the man puzzled. 

“Why yes.” Baelfire smiled. “Hasn’t your mother told you who she is?”

He leered at Emma. 

“I know who my mom is!” Henry clenched his fists. “I don’t know you!”

“Why, I think you do. You can feel it, can’t you?” Baelfire smiled sickeningly at him. 

Emma reached over to take Regina’s hand. Baelfire’s eyes flickered down to them. He sneered. 

“You kept my son away from me.” Baelfire claimed. 

“I had no choice.” Emma stuck her chin up. “You and your father hold a dangerous legacy. I couldn’t allow Henry to become part of that.”

“Henry.” Baelfire’s lip curled. He smiled widely at the boy. “Is that your name, son?”

“Stop calling me that!” Henry told him. “I’m not your son!”

“But you are.” Baelfire paced. He reminded Regina of a lion. A very dangerous lion. “Your mother stole away with you while I was away. Then she hid you away from me, so my father cursed her.”

“Mom?” Henry looked at Regina. She nodded her head, Emma’s story confirmed by the very person that she had been running from.

“Speaking of your father, where is the old imp?” Emma let go of Regina’s hand. Regina realized that she was preparing herself so she readied her magic too. 

“He is resting. 6 feet under.” Baelfire laughed as he said it, sending a shiver down all of their spines. “I’m the Dark One now.”

“All the more reason I didn’t want Henry to grow up with you.” Emma declared. She glanced back at Henry. “I’m sorry Henry, but you got to grow up with a great mom. One that protected your light. 

Henry didn’t reply. He looked stricken. 

“Why didn’t you say anything?” He said to Emma. 

“I didn’t want to upend your life.” 

“While all of this is good and well,” Baelfire interrupted. “I would very much like to have a word with my son.”

“No. You may not have one.” Regina told him. She and Emma placed themselves protectively in front of Henry.

“Oh he won’t come to any harm from me.” Baelfire told them earnestly. “I just want to get to know him.”

His smile was sinister. Regina didn’t trust him at all. 

“Mom.” Henry spoke up from behind her. Regina looked back at him. 

“Let me speak to him.” Henry urged. 

Emma stopped him with a hand to his chest as he stepped forward. “Henry, don’t. He killed his own father. His father killed his father before him. It’s how they pass on the Dark One’s power.” 

“He only wants you, because someday, that’s how he wants to pass his power on to you.”

Henry glanced at Baelfire. “Let me speak to him anyway.”

He looked at Regina meaningfully. Regina realized what he wanted. She stepped out of his way.

“Be careful.” Regina didn’t look at Emma expression of betrayal. 

As Henry approached his father, Regina reached over and touched Emma’s hand. She could feel her light magic, already refilling her Emma’s reserves. She knew it was incredibly powerful stuff, and with her heart back, it was probably going to be more powerful than ever.

Baelfire hugged Henry, leering at them over his shoulder. Emma growled. 

“Emma.” Regina murmured. Emma glanced over at her and their joined hands. 

“Oh.” Realization dawned on her face.

“Now!” Henry yelled, launching himself out of the way. Together, Regina, Emma, and Henry unleashed all the light magic they had. 

“No!” Baelfire roared. He unleashed his own power, but it was too late. Apart, the trio were strong, but together, they were overwhelming. 

Baelfire screamed as his scales flecked away from his skin. “You don’t know what you’re doing!”

“I don’t care!” Emma told him. “I won’t have you corrupting Henry!”

Baelfire whipped out one last bit of darkness, hitting Emma across the chest. She wavered, gritting her teeth against an invisible pain. She continued to pour her light magic into their attack until with a snarl, Baelfire disappeared surrounded by dark smoke. 

“Is he dead?” Henry stared at the spot Baelfire once stood. 

“No, I don’t think so Henry.” Regina’s mouth tightened into a thin line. 

Their attention turned to Emma when she cried out, hand clutching her chest. Regina and Henry rushed over to her. 

Emma collapsed into Regina’s arms. She checked her pulse. It seemed that whatever Baelfire hit her with was one last attempt to end her, as her heart stopped. 

“Nonono. Emma. This can’t be happening. Not when, not when…” Regina didn’t bother to wipe away her tears as she held the other witch. “I was just starting to want you.”

Regina pressed her lips to Emma’s temple. She pressed her hand into Emma’s chest. She couldn’t lose her. Not like this. 

Regina pumped her heart with her hand. 

Emma gasped, breathing hard as Regina removed her hand. She collapsed back into Regina’s arms, trying to regain control over her breath. Regina held her as Henry kneeled down beside them both. He understood the look in his mother’s eyes and realized just how important Emma had become to her. 

“I was too.” Emma breathed, so quietly Regina had to lean in to hear her.

“You were what?” Regina wrapped her arms around Emma tighter, helping her to sit up as Emma struggled. 

“I was starting to want you too.” Emma told her softly.

She wasn’t sure how to respond. So, Regina pressed her lips to Emma’s in her overwhelmed state. She pulled away just as quickly, realizing that what she had done was probably ridiculous or unwanted. But then Emma’s dazed look turned into something else, something Regina wasn’t familiar with. Emma reached out, cupping Regina’s jaw, and this time, much more tenderly than Regina had done, kissed her. 

Henry coughed, bringing them both back to the moment.

“I guess you two did a lot of getting to know one another while looking for me.” Henry joked. 

Regina looked at Emma whom she had yet to let go of. “I guess we did.”

Emma smiled. She touched her chest over the surface where her heart now laid. “We did, kid. Your mom saved me.”

Thinking about all those moments from the moment they left the cottage to now, Regina said, “We saved each other.”

Emma kissed her again, taking Regina’s hand into hers and clutching it over her heart. When they pulled away again, Emma said simply, “You saved my heart.”

* * *

Some months later, Regina watched as Emma dueled Henry with magic behind the cottage. They started training weeks ago, Emma setting up targets for Heny to aim at. Regina reluctantly agreed to allow Henry to learn the kinds of spells he would need for a magical fight. 

After what they had been through, Regina knew she couldn’t protect Henry forever. Not when Henry wanted to venture further and further out, especially after his aunt Zelena offered to take him on a trip with her and Mal during her last visit. And especially not when the threat of the Dark One returning to take his son back loomed over their heads. She hoped he would never try it. 

With Regina’s help, Emma renewed the spell on Henry’s swan charm. Hopefully, so long as he didn’t lose it again, it would keep him invisible to his father. Though they both knew he might have to face him again. Hopefully by that time, they would all be too powerful for him to be a threat whatsoever. Whatever was going to happen, they were going to face it together. As a family.

Emma patted Henry on the back as they finished one particularly difficult duelling session where Henry learned to hold up a magical shield against much more powerful magics. During the weeks after regaining her heart, Emma magic turned out to be a well of power just as deep, and strong as ever. Teaching Henry to duel was not only for his benefit, but hers as well, as Emma needed an outlet for her power. 

They learned the hard way that Emma’s magic would continue to need some sort of outlet when Emma had a nightmare in the middle of the night. She shook the whole cottage and the forest around them as her magic bled from her control. 

Regina handed Emma and Henry a cup of water and each their own rags to wipe their faces with. Both mother and son wiped sweat from their faces with similar gestures.

“Thanks.” Emma breathed out, smiling appreciatively at her. Regina licked her lips, admiring Emma’s sweat-slicked skin. She also admired the light in Emma’s eyes when she smiled. Her emotions were much more genuine and full with her heart back where it belonged.

“Dinner is ready.” Regina told her family. 

“Great, I’m starving.” Henry drawled, relieved. The two of them followed her back into the cottage.

Emma and Henry joked with one another over dinner. It was something they fell into quite easily, though Henry had yet to call Emma his mother. Emma had quite the playful humor. Regina enjoyed listening to them banter. 

Things were not easy at the beginning of the addition of Emma to their family. Henry had some outbursts toward Emma during their return to the cottage. Meeting the man that was his father left a deeply enraged and wounded impression on him. Eventually, Emma managed to coax him into speaking to her alone and they worked everything out. 

It helped that the duelling sessions allowed them both to get to know one another and let off some steam at the same time.

Regina followed Emma out of the cottage after dinner. Emma did this often. She would stand outside and look up at the sky. Regina often wondered about it, but she didn’t press. She learned Emma would talk to her about things in time.

“You know, the entire time I was bound to this forest, the only thing I had to look forward to at night was looking at the sky.” Emma confessed. Clearly, she heard Regina approaching her in the dark.

“I had all these clearings I would go lay down in the middle of. If I couldn’t sense a lost soul nearby, I would just lay there and watch the sky. It was peaceful. At least until something disturbed it.”

“And now?” Regina whispered, wrapping her arms around Emma from behind. She kissed Emma’s bare shoulder. Emma wore sleeveless shirts more and more often, now that she no longer had to wear those white robes she was cursed to wear for eternity. Emma quickly burned those robes once Regina gave her new clothes, never wanting to see them again.

“And now…” Emma turned in her arms and held Regina’s face with both hands, her thumb playing over Regina’s lower lip. “Now, I get to sleep at night, in peace. Everyday, I look forward to going to bed and waking up with you.”

Regina could feel herself tearing up. 

“I love you.” She whispered as a tear slid down her cheek.

Emma smiled and kissed first her forehead, then her cheekbones, her lips catching the single, happy tear, until finally, her lips pressed against Regina’s in the softest, tenderest kiss. 

“I love you, too, Regina.” Emma replied. “Thank you for saving my heart.”

The last part was something she often said, no matter how much Regina told her that she didn’t need to keep doing it. 

Tonight, rather than objecting, Regina told her, “You saved my heart too.” And kissed Emma, knowing that despite their short time of knowing one another, this was her happy ending. 

  
  


The End.


End file.
